Oklahoma law enforcement honored at 30th annual Buckledown Awards

OWASSO, Okla. — Law enforcement across Oklahoma was honored Thursday inside the Tulsa Community College Owasso Campus as part of the 30th annual Buckledown Awards.

The awards recognize officers, troopers, and deputies from across the state for their outstanding performance in occupant protection enforcement, occupant protection prevention, impaired driving enforcement, impaired driving prevention, traffic safety enforcement, traffic safety prevention, and traffic safety innovation.

In total, just over 200 law enforcement officers were recognized at this year’s event, and Green Country was well represented.

Among the winners, 81 were members of the Bixby, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Coweta, Owasso, Stillwater, Collinsville, and Sapulpa police departments. Several members of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office also won awards.

“When you think of police work, you think of, you know, officers going into a building where a shooting is taking place, or responding to a stabbing call, or domestic violence but... it’s just as dangerous to be out on the roadway,” Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin told us after the awards were handed out.

Traffic Safety Coordinator for the Tulsa Police Department, Lieutenant Paul Madden, echoed Franklin’s statement.

“When it comes to traffic stops, it’s one of the most dangerous things we can do,” Madden told us at the awards ceremony.

“Walking up to every single car is what we call an ‘unknown risk.’ [During] every one of those car stops, we don’t who is in that car, we don’t know what they have in their system or have in their mind.”

Lieutenant Madden says traffic enforcement is the “front line of the front line when it comes to catchin’ bad guys.”

Chief Franklin says some Tulsa police motorcycle officers issue over 300 citations a month, and other officers make over 1,000 traffic stops in a year.

As for the highest honors presented at this year’s Buckledown Awards, Lieutenant Chris Arnall of Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Troop V was the recipient of the Michael J. Garner Safety Advocate Award.

Trooper Jasmuel Robert of Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Troop J took home the Fabrienne VanArsdell Memorial Award.

Officer Brandon Becker of the Lawton Police Department was awarded the Don Byerley Memorial Award.

Trooper Colton Croft of Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Troop C won the Matthew Scott Evans Memorial Award.

Chief Shelly Garrett of the Kellyville Police Department was presented with the Nicholas Dees Memorial Award.

The last four of the five awards listed above are named after officers who lost their lives while on duty working a traffic incident.