The mission of the Catoosa Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in our city by providing quality police services. We work in partnership with the community to promote safety and security, enforce laws, prevent crime, and safeguard the constitutional rights of all people. The City of Catoosa is located in Northeastern Oklahoma just minutes from Tulsa. Our community is progressive and growing with a strong small town atmosphere. Our city covers 15 square miles and has a population of 7,705 plus. We also have a daily vehicle population of over 85,000 vehicles traveling to and through our city. One of the earliest known law enforcement officers for Catoosa was Town Marshal George Washington Cochran Sr., he was also a deputy U.S. Marshal for Indian Territory. Ramsey was elected Town Marshal in 1935, for a term of 60 days. Britt was appointed Town Marshal in June 1936, and resigned in September 1938. No mention is made of Catoosa having a Town Marshal from September 1938 until August 1947, when a Mr. Moorhead was paid $25 per month to act as City Marshal on a month to month basis. Apparently Mr. Moorhead held this position until November 1947. No records indicate that Catoosa had any law enforcement from November 1947, until February of 1953. Records also indicate that Catoosa still had a jail at this time. In 1973, the city hired J.B. Hamby as its first Chief of Police. J.B. Hamby was killed in the line of duty by two gunmen during an armed holdup of he Catoosa Tag Agency in 1978. Claud Graves and Jim Perryman Jr, served as Catoosa Police Chiefs followed by Benny Dirck who was appointed to be Chief of Police. Benny Dirck served until 1999 when Raymond G. Rodgers Jr. was appointed to the position. Raymond G. served until his retirement in March 2010. Lt. John Blish was named Interim Chief of Police while the city searched for a new Chief. Mayor Rita Lamkin appointed Clifford L. Arneecher as Chief of Police. Clifford L. Arneecher served as Chief of Police from August 23, 2010 until August of 2011. Assistant Chief of Police John Blish was again named Interim Chief of Police until January 2012 when the new City Manager took applications for the position and ultimately appointed Kevin R. McKim Chief of Police. Chief McKim was well known in the Catoosa area for having secured funding for and forming the Catoosa Public School Campus Police Department where he had served as Chief of Campus Police for more than ten years. Chief McKim was injured in the line of duty and ultimately, due to those injuries was forced to retire in October of 2018. Andrew J. Wimberley, III was named Interim Chief of Police by City Manager John Blish and after taking applications for the position Blish selected and appointed retired Tulsa Police Officer Ronald “Ronnie” L. Benight, II Chief of Police on September 19, 2019. Chief Benight had previously worked for the Catoosa Police Department in the mid-nineties and early 2000s but after achieving his bachelor’s degree applied with the Tulsa Police Department where he worked for several more years before retiring. Chief Benight currently leads the department. The department is currently staffed with 17 state certified Officers. These include the Chief, one Assistant Chief, a Captain/Patrol Commander, 2 Investigator, 12 uniformed Patrol Officers, 2 state certified Reserve Officers, 2 civilian employees. All of our Officers are commissioned as both Cherokee Nation Marshals and Muscogee (Creek) Nation Light Horse Police. 4 Officers are commissioned by the Rogers County District Attorney’s Office for the District 12 Task Force and 2 Officers are commissioned with the F.B.I. under the Safe Trails Task Force. The Department has 1 K9 Officer, a criminal investigations team, and an Advanced accident investigations team. Our department has the Computer Aided Dispatch System (CADS) that will allow us immediate access for individual officer tracking within or outside our jurisdiction through Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. Catoosa Police Department also has a website for online reporting with a tip line.
