J. Stannard Baker Award Winner

2010 J. Stannard Baker Award for Highway Safety

Sheriff John Whetsel

Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

Northwestern University Center for Public Safety is proud to sponsor the J Stannard Baker Award. J Stannard Baker, while working with the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety (formally the Traffic Institute) developed a mathematical and physics approach to crash investigation that has been replicated worldwide. J Stannard Baker was well known as a pioneer in the broad field of traffic safety. The lives saved through one man’s brilliant initiate are immeasurable. The Center for Public Safety continues in this tradition of “Advancing Excellence”. The advancements of the Traffic Institute and J. Stannard Baker live on in the spirit of law enforcement officers working to advance the field of crash investigation and traffic safety.

Sheriff from 1997 - present. Sheriff Whetsel began his fourth term in 2009 and is responsible for the administration of agency and budget, as well as supervision of 780 full-time and 250 reserve personnel and a 42 million dollar budget. Sheriff Whetsel obtained grant funding awards exceeding $12 million. His agency has implemented programs to include: DARE, Triad senior citizens crime prevention programs; take-home vehicles; motorcycles; traffic safety unit; underwater search and recovery team; crime and traffic crash analysis; agency computerization; Law Enforcement Explorers; vehicle laptop GPS computers; honor guard; multi-jurisdictional aggressive traffic enforcement and drug interdiction team; monthly traffic safety checkpoints; employee awards; annual banquet; and community services.

In addition, his agency has increased employees from 400 to 780; increased K-9 from 2 to 8; greatly enhanced training; increased Detention Officer training to six (6) weeks; implemented annual mini-academy for all commissioned deputies; opened fleet maintenance facility; opened 3 area sub-stations; established a safe child custody exchange program; opened new training facility and rebuilt an agency into a professional law enforcement organization.

His agency is responsible for security at the Detention Center; all off-site agency facilities; the District Courts; and the County Courthouse and Annex Building; as well as responsibility for the operation of the 35th largest detention center in the nation with a capacity of 2,890 inmates.

Prior to becoming sheriff, Sheriff Whetsel was the Chief of Police for the City of Choctaw; Choctaw, OK, 1976-1997.

“Traffic enforcement leads to less overall crime,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel. “Oklahoma County reported a decline of more than 80 percent in overall crime as traffic law enforcement increased by 80 percent.”

Sheriff Whetsel has a personal stake in traffic safety; his wife and 2-year-old daughter were killed in 1980 when an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper in pursuit of a speeding motorcyclist crashed into the family’s car.

Sheriff John Whetsel has distinguished himself in the performance of outstanding public service as the Sheriff of Oklahoma County for the past 13 years, and as the Chief of Police in the City of Choctaw for 21 years prior to that. As Sheriff of Oklahoma County, his outstanding professional skill, leadership, and tireless efforts have resulted in the superior performance of a law enforcement agency rebuilt from top to bottom. The overall operations of the sheriff’s office are at its highest level since John Whetsel became sheriff. His unfailing efforts were directly responsible for an 80 percent reduction in crime and his efforts in traffic safety have lowered fatalities and traffic crash incidents for the unincorporated areas of Oklahoma County. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Sheriff Whetsel reflect great credit upon himself, his employees, and the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff John Whetsel is an active participant in numerous community oriented functions. In addition to the accomplishments listed on his résumé (attached), Sheriff Whetsel is a member of the Oklahoma Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) State Operations Council and has been an active partner with the organization since 1998 as Sheriff of Oklahoma County. Sheriff John Whetsel is devoted to our community, whether it involves youth or senior citizens; he is always ready to make a positive impact on the safety and quality of their lives. During his tenure, he has increased the Patrol Division staffing from 23 to 51 deputies, directly impacting crime in rural Oklahoma County. Within the first 2 years of these changes, we experienced an 80% reduction in crime. He also implemented the first Mobile Data Computers in the Sheriff’s Patrol Units, and our mobile data infrastructure for CAD is currently being utilized by more than 75 law enforcement agencies statewide. Sheriff Whetsel created the first Traffic Safety Unit in the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, utilizing motorcycles and cruisers, and later expanded that unit to include Oklahoma County’s first traffic fatality squad.

Sheriff’s Whetsel has restructured the Traffic Safety Unit, and as a result, the citizens of Oklahoma County are safer on the roads and highways. Partnerships with other Oklahoma City metro law enforcement agencies have resulted in more effective traffic safety ventures. The Traffic Safety Unit of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office sets up at least one traffic checkpoint a month, and hundreds of impaired drivers have been removed from the streets.

Sponsored by the US Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University, and NSA, the J. Stannard Baker Award for Highway Safety is presented annually to a deputy sheriff or officer who has shown unusual initiative directly related to highway safety.