The Wyandotte Nation presented the Seneca Police Department with a $40,000 check to use toward the purchase of vehicles.
“It’s a wonderful donation to us. We are short of cars,” said Seneca Chief of Police James Altic. “I just want to thank the Wyandotte Nation for the donation, and our City Council would like to thank them for the donation. It really is beneficial to us.”
Chief Altic said the department was down a couple of vehicles after a recent shooting and wreck. He said the purchase request is already in and the department should see the vehicles in the next few weeks.
For the Tribe, Wyandotte Nation Chief Billy Friend said they were glad to be in a position to help the Seneca Police Department and the community.
“For us, Seneca is part of our extended community. We have a lot of tribal citizens who reside in the town and we also have businesses that are in Seneca,” Chief Friend said. “It’s important for us the community there is well protected and served. The Seneca Police Department has done a great job for years of doing that.
“We saw that there was a need there and we were in a position to help, and we feel great about that.”
Funds for the donation came from revenue generated by businesses in the Tribe’s corporation, Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma (WTOK), like the Turtle Stop convenience store located in Seneca, Mo.
“We are able to take those revenues, distribute those, and help people here in our community,” Chief Friend said. “We’ve always been very community-minded. We realize when you are in a rural community, you have a lot of neighbors, and Seneca has always been a good neighbor to us.”
Both Chiefs said the relationship between the Seneca PD and Tribe has been strong, especially as the Wyandotte Nation Tribal Police Department (WNTPD) works closely with the Seneca PD on a daily basis.
“It’s just natural for us to be able to reach out and help them, and we are glad we were able to do that,” Chief Friend said. “We want to continue to cultivate and build those relationships — the stronger our communities are, the safer they are.
“That is one of our goals, to help improve the quality of life for the citizens not only here in Wyandotte, but throughout this community, and anything we can do to help contribute to that we do that.”