About the museum
Founded by the people who wore the badge.
The Tulsa Police Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 2024 by active and retired Tulsa Police officers. Our job is simple to say and hard to do: find the department’s history before it is lost, preserve it properly, and put it where Tulsa can see it.
Our mission
Collect. Preserve. Share.
The mission of the Tulsa Police Museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret the history of the Tulsa Police Department.
Collect. We accept gifts and loans of Tulsa Police artifacts, uniforms, equipment, documents and photographs, from every era and every unit of the department.
Preserve. Every item is catalogued with an accession number, photographed, and stored in archival materials. Money raised now goes to display cases, storage and conservation supplies.
Share. Exhibits are planned for the FOP Lodge and the new Public Safety Center while we work toward a permanent building. Our Speaker Series and this website put the stories in front of the public today.
As Lt. Pat Harker, a museum board member, put it: “Just like our previous officers that led the way for us, we kind of want to continue that for the other officers behind us. It is kind of an educational thing, because there is a lot of information that has happened to and with the Tulsa Police Department.”
Our purpose
To educate the public in the history of the Tulsa Police Department in historic and modern context to enhance the image of law enforcement; interact with our community through a positive learning environment; to promote and preserve the history of the department while building a closer relationship between our police department and our community. The Museum is currently looking for a permanent home but has many online exhibits which are free for all to enjoy.
The historian
Built on eight years of research.
Retired Corporal Ron Trekell is the Tulsa Police Department’s historian. His 395-page “History of the Tulsa Police Department, 1882-1990” took eight years of interviews, city records and newspaper archives to write, and it remains the definitive account of the department’s first 108 years. His work gives the museum its backbone: the names, dates and stories that turn a box of objects into a history.
Where we are today
A museum without walls, for now.
01
Cataloguing the collection
Artifacts are being accessioned, photographed and researched now. The collection already includes items from patrol, the mounted unit, motors, dive team and Special Operations.
02
First public displays
Display cases are the first major purchase. Initial exhibits will be installed at the FOP Lodge and in Tulsa’s new Public Safety Center.
03
A building of our own
The long-term goal is a dedicated Tulsa Police Museum, open to the public. The timeline depends on fundraising, and every gift moves it closer.
Leadership
Board and team.
Tom LeBlanc
Chairman
Bryan Bryden
Vice Chairman
Lori Visser
Secretary
Marcie Brannon
Treasurer
Jenny Lindsey
Executive Director
Rick Phillips
Board Member
Pat Harker
Board Member
Gerard Stege
Board Member
Julie Harris
Advisor
Matt Parker
Board Member
Ron Trekell
TPD Historian
501(c)(3) nonprofit · Founded 2024
Help us open the doors.
Every display case, every archival sleeve, every square foot of the future museum is funded by people who believe Tulsa’s police history is worth keeping. Give once, give monthly, or donate an artifact.