Oklahoma Law Enforcement Museum and Hall of Fame

08/21/2026

Congratulations to all 44 cadets of the 75th Oklahoma Highway Patrol class! Twenty-four weeks of demanding training is an incredible accomplishment, and their next step into field training will be an exciting new chapter.

Wishing each cadet a safe, successful, and fulfilling career serving communities across Oklahoma.

For anyone who would like to watch their graduation, it will be live streamed on the Oklahoma Highway Patrol page.

07/20/2026

CHIEF LARSEN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Monday morning, Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen announced his retirement from the Tulsa Police Department after 47 years:

“It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Tulsa for over 47 years and a privilege to lead our department for the past few.

The time has come for me to focus on what’s next in my life: family, vacation time with my wife and grandchildren, and some new adventures.

It has been the honor of my life to serve as your Chief.”

Chief Larsen’s retirement will be effective Thursday, October 1, 2026.

07/18/2026

07/18/2026

Our condolences to the Berry family. . 🙏🏼

R.I.P.: Oklahoma City’s first Black police chief and former Assistant City Manager, M.T. Berry, passed away from a lengthy battle with brain cancer today. He was 75.

Berry began his career with the City of Oklahoma City in 1970, as a community service officer in the Oklahoma City Police Department. One year later, he was sworn in as a police officer and in 1998, Berry was appointed Oklahoma City’s 47th Police Chief. He served in that role for five years.

He led nearly 1,300 employees and managed a budget of $119 million.

He was appointed Assistant City Manager in 2003, and served in that role for more than 15 years, until his retirement in 2019.

Berry grew up in Oklahoma City’s Creston Hills neighborhood and attended Douglass High School. He is survived by his wife, Dianna, the City’s former Human Resource Director; his children, Major III, Michelle, Myrissa, Timothy and their spouses and seven grandchildren.

06/22/2026

Congratulations to Hall of Fame member, Darrell Weaver! 🎉

06/13/2026

“Today’s Inspection Is Tomorrow’s Protection”

This photograph was recently discovered on eBay and appears to have been taken as a promotional image supporting a statewide vehicle safety inspection campaign in 1954. A search of Tulsa-area newspapers from 1950–1960 using the slogan written on the chalkboard, “Today’s Inspection Is Tomorrow’s Protection,” produced a single match: a Tulsa Tribune article published on April 30, 1954.

According to the article, the Tulsa Police Department, working in cooperation with the National Safety Council, planned what was described as the largest vehicle safety inspection effort ever conducted in Oklahoma up to that time. Throughout the month, officers conducted vehicle safety checks at various locations across Tulsa, while the Oklahoma Highway Patrol carried out similar inspections statewide. The campaign predates Oklahoma’s annual vehicle inspection program, which began in 1969 and ended in 2001.

Although the exact use of this photograph remains unknown, it was likely created for publicity purposes. A companion photograph was reportedly taken inside the KOTV television studios, and similarities in the stage floor and curtain backdrop suggest both images may have been photographed at the same location.

Pictured left to right are: an unidentified officer; Tulsa Police Traffic Director Larry Coulson; an unidentified officer; an unidentified officer; and Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lieutenant Dave T. Faulkner, who would later serve as Tulsa County Sheriff. Based on uniforms and insignia, the officer standing to the left of Coulson may have been a full-time Tulsa Police officer, while the two officers between Coulson and Faulkner may have been members of the Tulsa Police Auxiliary.

Faulkner would later become the Tulsa County Sheriff.

(Research and identification by Retired Tulsa County Deputy Lyndall Cole.)

05/30/2026

05/29/2026

If you are attending the Route 66 Capital Car Cruise in Tulsa this weekend, keep an eye out for the 1937 Oklahoma Highway Patrol cruiser.

05/16/2026

Steel Gloves Serve as Prisoner Handcuffs

(Research provided by Lyndall Cole.)

In early 1924, Phillips County Sheriff Jacob “Jake” Oliver McKenzie of Phillipsburg, Kansas invented a new style of high security handcuffs for prisoner transports. Sheriff McKenzie received his inspiration for his unique invention after a prisoner grabbed his gun during a transport and in the ensuing struggle shot Sheriff McKenzie in the leg. These new handcuffs were basically steel gloves that a prisoner would slide their hands into, limiting the prisoner’s ability to grasp anything with their hands. The innovative sheriff received a patent for his steel gloves in March of 1925, for what would become known as McKenzie Mitts. (A man named John Bushey wrote an informative article about these McKenzie Mitts in 2011.)

One of the best known and most popular Tulsa County deputy sheriffs in 1925 was James Alexander Sewell. On Tuesday, March 24, 1925, Deputy Sewell was transporting three inmates to their respective correctional facilities. Daniel Scott, 14, was being transported to the Pauls Valley industrial school, and the other two prisoners, Howard Love, 16, and Ernest Hughes, 20, were being transported to the Oklahoma Reformatory in Granite, Oklahoma. After dropping off Scott, Sewell proceeded on towards Granite with Hughes and Love. During the drive to Granite, while Deputy Sewell was removing his coat, one of the prisoners grabbed his gun and shot him. Deputy Sewell died several hours later after the two prisoners left him beside the road, near a farm house.

Both, Love and Hughes, were later apprehended after a state-wide manhunt and charged with murder in Grady County where the shooting had occurred. Both defendants blamed each other for shooting, but Howard Love was convicted of the actual murder of Deputy Sewell. Both men received a life sentence.

In 1926, because of the death of Deputy Sewell, Sheriff Bob Sanford purchased steel gloves to cover the hands of inmates during transports to protect his deputies. “They are steel gloves which will be used on desperate criminals. They fit over the hand of the criminal and prevent his reaching for or using a weapon. The gloves are quite light and do not injure the hand, the sheriff said. They cost $25.” (Tulsa Tribune, January 28, 1926.)

I believe the steel gloves purchased by Sheriff Sanford in 1926, was McKenzie Mitts. Shown below is a pair of these steel gloves in an ad in the December, 1927 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine I was able to purchase. This ad appeared on page 976.

05/15/2026