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Though safety talks like the one at DuFief last week are among her lighter duties as the Sixth District’s community services officer, the underpinnings are deadly serious.

The day after she marked her anniversary on the force, Tillery reminded the 6- to 8-year-old Brownies of one vital lesson:

‘‘Sometimes there are bad people out there.”

A graduate of Winston Churchill High School, Tillery earned degrees in criminal justice and sociology from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina. After a summer waiting tables in Myrtle Beach, she returned home to Montgomery County.

‘‘My dad said it was time to get a real job,” she recalled. She then spent two years working with delinquent children before she was recruited to join the county police force.

After more than 10 years patrolling in Wheaton, Rockville and Bethesda, she worked child abuse cases in the department’s family services division. She became the Sixth District’s community services officer three years ago.

In her 25 years on the force, Tillery has been on the front lines of change as the county has grown by a third in size and the population has become more diverse.

The upcounty’s growing Latino and Asian communities can be especially fearful of police, Tillery said, and language obstacles can make it even tougher.

But through it all, one piece of advice has stuck with her.

‘‘I have a big mouth,” she said with a smile, recalling a peer that pulled her aside years ago and said her mouth would be her best tool.

‘‘Here he was 6 foot 3 and a boxer, and here I was 5 foot 2, all of 130 pounds, and he said to me, ‘You better be able to run your mouth because you’re just not going to be able to beat somebody down.’ You’ve got to be able to run your mouth, because there are a lot of times when female officers can diffuse these situations quicker than male officers.”

Her gift for gab has been particularly handy as in recent years Tillery has found herself playing central roles in some of the areas most divisive and charged controversies — namely, the ongoing struggle involving Gaithersburg’s day laborers and Montgomery Village’s issue with a fence built between neighboring communities.

Whether it’s a divisive controversy or a routine briefing with a homeowners association on locking car doors, County Councilman Michael J. Knapp appreciates Tillery for being the first face that people see.

‘‘As the community grows, people feel detached and remote from county agencies and departments,” said Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown. ‘‘What she does is provide the face in the community. That’s really important in this day and age.”

As a community services officer, she serves at the discretion of the district commander — which in the Sixth District means working with the Montgomery Village Foundation and the myriad of other homeowners associations of the upcounty suburbs. Much to her husband’s chagrin, she joked, that means three or four nights a week at public forums and meetings.

Armed always with a keen sense of humor, Tillery gets things done, said Sharon Levine, the foundation’s director of government relations.

‘‘She never makes anyone feel like their claim is invalid or ridiculous,” Levine said. ‘‘She’s readily available, and she cuts right to the chase. She’s been very good for our community.”

Sixth District Commander Capt. Alan M. Goldberg has come to marvel in his six months on the job at how Tillery uses her experience to ‘‘referee those battles” of competing neighborly interests.

Some officers spend their entire careers looking for their niche. Goldberg says Tillery has found hers.

‘‘She probably is one of the models,” he said. ‘‘When you come into a district, you basically come into it cold and you have to depend on certain people to help you out. She’s the one who keeps me on track,” he said. ‘‘She’s on top of the game. She knows the players. She’s able to work independently.”

Tillery knew from the start that she was in it for the long haul.

‘‘I’ve been working since I was 15 and I never saw myself as someone who could sit at home,” she said. ‘‘I have three kids and I really believe I’ve been a better mom because I have been working full time.”

But that long haul is getting close to winding down.

She could have retired last week, but wants to wait for her 14-year-old daughter — the youngest of her three children — to finish high school before heading off to retirement in North Carolina. It may not be that hard to tear herself away, she jokes.

‘‘I think if I’m sitting on the beach, reading a book and have my golden retriever with me, I’ll be quite happy.”