By John Dobberstein, Editor
Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott and challenger Tyler Cooper will participate in an election forum Tuesday during a fundraiser for the Broken Arrow Veterans Center.
A pie auction will take place at the Veterans Center, 1117 S. Main St., followed by the candidate forum. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event begins at 7 p.m.
Elliott won his primary in June but failed to gain the 50.1% needed to avoid a runoff election, which will be held Aug. 27.
Cooper is a former Wagoner County Sheriff’s deputy who left in 2017 to join the Grand River Dam Authority police, where he is an administrator and directly supervises 19 officers. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in criminal analysis with statistics.
He has 18 years of combined Air Force and law enforcement experience and is an OSBI agents academy graduate.
Cooper has been endorsed by retired Wagoner County Judge Dennis Shook and retired U.S. Marshal and former Wagoner County Sheriff Dan David.
Elliott has served as sheriff in Wagoner County since 2016 and served in law enforcement for more than 33 years, including 27 years in the Tulsa Police Department.
His accreditations include a Bachelor’s Degree in science/criminal justice and counseling, the Tulsa Police Department Medal of Valor, FTO, Advanced Accident Investigator, C.L.E.E.T Instructor, Recruit Training Coordinator for the Tulsa Police Department Training Center along with winning the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Association Sheriff Of The Year in 2021.
Cooper has criticized Elliott for what he believe is low morale and high turnover at the sheriff’s department, which in turn affects officer safety and hurts response time, he says. The average employee is staying only 1.7 years, which means the department is losing future mentors and taxpayer-funded training is being wasted.
Cooper has said he also wants to pursue grants to hire more deputies and restructure the department to give more control over lieutenants on shift to improve operations and free up money in budget.
Elliott, who has earned endorsements from the Wagoner County FOP, Rogers County FOP and the Tulsa Police Department FOP, said those organizations chose to support him because they are “familiar with my skill set as a law enforcement official, my honor, integrity and my vision to continue to lead this organization.
“Contrary to my opponent’s assessment of the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office, low morale is not the issue here. The rank and file of this agency has officially stated that ‘we believe that your leadership has brought well-needed changes and improvements,’ to the department,” Elliott said in a recent Facebook post announcing the Wagoner County FOP endorsement.
“I believe in standards and accountability for all members of this organization. I will always place a high priority on delivering great customer service to the citizens of this county.”
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