History

The earliest record found in the Lewis County Historical Museum indicates that the Chehalis Police Department started with a Town Marshall by the name of J.C. Kitchell in 1908. There would be one more Town Marshall before the first Police Chief, G.E. Herndon, is recorded in 1911. To date, there have been a total of 20 police chief’s for the City of Chehalis.

From 1908 to the late 1920’s the Chehalis Police Department was a force of between one and three officers. In the late 1920’s the force grew to around five officers, and had a fleet of three patrol vehicles. The records aren’t specific, but sometime in the late 1960’s it appears that the department grew to eleven officers, and then through the 1980’s and 1990’s it expanded to our current force of 18 sworn officers.

Police Chief’s of the Chehalis Police Department:

1908               J.C. Kitchell (Town Marshall)
1910-1911      S.F. Townsend (Town Marshall)
1911               G.E. Herndon
1911-1912      William Doyle
1912               O.H. Spencer
1914-1916      William Dolph
1917-1918      W.A. Russell
1920               Joseph Knizek
1920-1921      S.L. Hawkins
1922-1923      Norton Wynn
1925-1926      John W. Parr
1927-1928      P.W. North
1929-1930      Dave Mathes
1931-1934      Floyd Peasley
1937-1961      Thomas Murray
1961-1974      Rollyn C. Tucker
1974-1981      M.V. Jennings
1981-1986      Donald Schwartz
1986-1987      Lynn S. Coney
1987-2002      Randy Hamilton
2002-2004      Dennis Dawes
2004-2006      Dale Miller
2007-2021      Glenn Schaffer
2021-Present  Randy Kaut

It’s not clear if there was an actual police building or office prior to 1925, but in that year the Civic Auditorium was built on the corner of Park St. and Front St., and photographs show the police department in the first floor of that building in 1928. The Police Department would remain in that building, along side the Chehalis Fire Department, until January 2008 when the new City Hall building was purchased on Market Blvd.