Research into the history of Federal Way and how it got its name revealed that the US Cavalry provided the preferred and protected route of travel (thus the Federal Way) from Portland to Seattle, hence the Cavalry sabers upholding justice and safety. The law enforcement shield behind the sabers memorialize the agency’s first shield badge which went into effect under the direction of the department’s founding Chief Ron Wood in 1996. It was the single largest undertaking of its kind at the that time, an overnight take over of King County Sheriff’s largest precinct by the municipal police of the city of Federal Way.