The Bartlesville Police Department has made several changes to the department. Since joining BPD, Police Chief Tracy Roles has made several promotions in the department. Those changes took place in 2018 and Roles says there will only be more change in 2019.

Two major initiatives are being looked at by Chief Roles and the BPD. Those intiatives are: a wellness initiative and a training initiative. When it comes to the wellness initiative, Roles says too many people commit suicide in our community and they want to make wellness a priority to ensure their protection.

As for the training initiative, Roles says he wants to encourage Bartlesville police officers to acquire more than the state's minimum hours for training. He says the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training is the state entity that licenses police officers. CLEET only requires officers to complete 25 hours of annual training. Roles says the BPD wants its officers to complete 100 hours of training. Those longer hours will include mental health training, which will help with their efforts in the wellness initiative they want to enact in 2019.