Okla. Town Seeks New Police Chief after Entire Force Quits
Warner OK July 28, 2023
Warner is seeking a new police chief and officers to replace four who quit suddenly last week, Warner Mayor Roger Thomason said.
The town’s four police officers, including Police Chief Adam Satterfield, handed in their resignations late last week, Thomason said, adding that no reason was given.
Thomason said the town will hire a new chief before hiring the officers. He said the town administrator is to draw up qualifications for a police chief after the next town meeting, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 1.
“It will probably take us 30 days to hire a police chief,” Thomason said.
The resignations came as a shock, he said. “They came in and gave us their resignations and, basically that’s the first time I heard they would do it.”
Thomason said three officers’ resignations take effect immediately, but one gave two weeks’ notice.
“But since we didn’t have a police chief, we could not have an officer working for us,” he said. “Officer Mullins was offered two weeks’ pay.”
Muskogee County Sheriff Andy Simmons said his office is providing law enforcement service to the town and is responding to calls from Warner.
Thomason said “in the past year, he (Simmons) has had a good presence of county deputies down here.”
He said the town had a good relationship with its police force.
“Whenever they needed anything, they just came to the city council and presented what they were needing,” he said.
