Tracy Roles has been selected to fill the open position of Bartlesville police chief, City Manager Mike Bailey said Thursday. Roles, who currently serves as police chief in Anadarko, will officially take over the Bartlesville post on Oct. 1.
“The position of police chief is a critical one for our community, and I am confident that Chief Roles will exceed all expectations,” Bailey said. “He has a proven track record of success in his varied law enforcement career and has demonstrated exemplary leadership. He is truly an impressive individual, and we are excited to have him on our team.”
Roles, who holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in administration of justice and security, has approximately nine years of higher level supervisory and management experience as Anadarko police chief in addition to his previous roles as facility director/warden of the Tulsa Transitional Center and chief deputy coroner/chief of investigations with the Weld County Coroner’s Office in Greeley, Colo. He has also served as an investigator for the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office in Tulsa and Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, as well as with the Fourth and Eighth District Attorney’s Offices and Weld County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado. He started his law enforcement career as a patrol officer with the Tishomingo and Enid police departments.
The new chief was selected following a lengthy search that began with upwards of 30 candidates, including internal and external, following the retirement of long-time chief Tom Holland. The hiring firm SGR was contracted to assist with narrowing the field, which included written and video questionnaires. The final candidates completed extensive interviews with a panel comprised of City management and Human Resources personnel as well as law enforcement officials from outside the immediate community.
“This was a thorough vetting that, frankly, resulted in several qualified candidates reaching the final stages of the process — including three from within the Bartlesville Police Department,” Bailey said. “Those candidates should feel confident as they continue to move toward their career goals as this was a highly competitive field and one that, hopefully, will serve to help them in the future. We are grateful to all the candidates who expressed interest in this position and wish them well.”
Bailey also commended members of the Bartlesville Police Department, and said Roles is the “right fit” for the department.
“Our officers and support staff with the police department are second to none,” he said. “I know they will welcome Chief Roles and assist him however they can. He is definitely the right fit for the department and a welcomed addition to our city.”
Roles said he and his family are looking forward to becoming a part of the Bartlesville community.
“My wife, Jessica, and children, Marissa,15, Manuel, 11, Braxton, 4, and Kenleigh — who will be here any time, we hope — and I, are all very excited about the opportunity to become a part of the great City of Bartlesville,” he said. “I am both humbled and honored to have been chosen to be a part of such as great team. I look forward to working alongside the city and police department staff as we professionally serve the citizens of Bartlesville. My family and I look forward to developing lasting relationships within the community.”