Welcome To Osage County
Oklahoma’s Largest County
At the Osage County Sheriff’s Office, our mission is to provide a solid foundation on which the residents of Osage County can thrive. We are committed to building public trust and fostering safe, secure communities through professional, high-quality professional law enforcement.
Osage County holds a unique place in Oklahoma’s history and geography. As the state’s largest county by area, it was established in 1907 when Oklahoma gained statehood. The county’s name and heritage are deeply tied to the federally recognized Osage Nation, whose reservation boundaries are coextensive with the county itself. This land became the Osage Nation Reservation in the 19th century following the relocation of the Osage people from Kansas.
The county seat, Pawhuska, is one of the first three towns founded in the county and remains a hub of history and culture. As of the 2020 Census, Osage County had a population of 45,818 residents.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county spans an impressive 2,304 square miles (5,970 km²), with 2,246 square miles (5,820 km²) of land and 58 square miles (150 km²) of water, accounting for 2.5% of its total area. Much of the landscape is part of the Osage Plains, characterized by open prairie, while the eastern portion features the rolling Osage Hills—an extension of Kansas’ Flint Hills. Nature enthusiasts can also explore the renowned Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, located just north of Pawhuska, where remnants of the once-vast tallgrass ecosystem are carefully preserved.
MEET OUR LEADERS
Bart Perrier
Sheriff
Billy Wakefield
Undersheriff
John Cummings
Chief Deputy
Jay Long
Jail Captain
Shane Rhames
Investigations Captain
A Career of Service: Environmental Deputy David McAlister Retires
After more than 16 years of service to the citizens of Osage County, Environmental Deputy David McAlister will retire from the Osage County Sheriff’s Office on September 15, 2026, leaving behind a unique legacy of protecting not only the people of Osage County, but also its land and waterways.
McAlister began his law enforcement career with the Osage County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 as a Reserve Deputy. In March 2010, he transitioned into a part-time position as a Courthouse Deputy.
His career would eventually take a different and specialized direction. In 2014, the Sheriff’s Office, working with the Osage County Board of County Commissioners, established an Environmental Deputy position funded through a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. Created during the administration of Sheriff Ty Koch, the position recognized the need for a dedicated investigator who could focus on illegal dumping, pollution, environmental crimes, and the cleanup of contaminated areas throughout Osage County.
McAlister took on that responsibility and made the position his own.
Over the years, he successfully investigated and prosecuted numerous environmental cases, issued citations, and held violators accountable under Oklahoma law. As environmental laws and enforcement efforts evolved, McAlister remained committed to ensuring Osage County had a dedicated law-enforcement presence focused on crimes that are often overlooked but can have lasting consequences for our communities and natural resources.
His work frequently took him far from the traditional duties associated with a deputy sheriff. He investigated illegal dumping sites, identified those responsible, coordinated cleanups, removed abandoned waste, and worked to protect the creeks, streams, and land that make up Osage County.
The scale of that work has been significant.
In a May 2025 article published by Osage News, McAlister reported that in less than a year he had handled 58 calls for service, obtained 14 arrest warrants, identified and cleaned 69 sites, and helped collect and dispose of approximately 160,000 pounds of solid waste.
His philosophy toward environmental enforcement could be summarized by one simple observation he shared in that article:
“Everything ends up in the water.”
For McAlister, environmental enforcement has never simply been about cleaning up trash. It has been about protecting private and public property, holding offenders accountable, preserving our natural resources, and leaving Osage County better than he found it.
Over the years, Deputy McAlister has become an invaluable member of the Osage County Sheriff’s Office and a tremendous resource for citizens, landowners, county officials, and other agencies.
His retirement marks the end of an important chapter, but the mission he helped build will continue.
Following McAlister’s retirement, Deputy Bob Nail will assume the part-time position of Osage County Environmental Deputy. Nail brings extensive experience to the assignment, including training and service as a State Fire Marshal, along with additional environmental and law-enforcement experience that will help him continue the work McAlister established.
We congratulate Deputy David McAlister on his retirement and thank him for more than 16 years of dedicated service to the Osage County Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Osage County.
Some careers leave behind statistics. Others leave behind something you can actually see.
For David McAlister, his legacy can be found in cleaner properties, restored dumping sites, protected waterways, and thousands upon thousands of pounds of waste that are no longer scattered across Osage County.
Congratulations on your retirement, Deputy McAlister. Thank you for your friendship, your dedication, and your many years of service to Osage County.
— Sheriff Bart Perrier …
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𝟐𝟓 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 — 𝐈 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭
September 11, 2001, is a day most of us will never forget. I know I never will.
That morning, I was attending a law enforcement training class in Shawnee, Oklahoma, when we were interrupted by the news that something horrific was happening in New York City.
Like so many Americans, my first thought was that it must have been a tragic accident. Then, minutes later, as we watched the events unfold live, the second plane struck the South Tower.
At that moment, we knew.
Our nation was under attack.
It is difficult today to remember how different the world was then. Social media didn't exist. Cell phones were mostly just phones. Internet access was limited, and information traveled nothing like it does today.
I remember calling my agency's dispatch center — then, as now, the Osage County Sheriff's Office. I spoke with Dispatcher Jeanie Brown. Our conversation was brief, but I still remember the uncertainty and uneasiness of that moment.
In many ways, September 11, 2001, was the last day of innocence for a generation of Americans. We watched our country change before our eyes.
Three months later, I became a father. The events of September 11 reinforced something in me that has remained throughout my life: I wanted a better and safer world for my family, and I wanted to do my part to serve and protect the people around me.
Twenty-five years have now passed. Memories fade. Generations grow up with no personal recollection of that morning. And at times, it can seem that our nation has forgotten the unity, patriotism, sacrifice, and sense of purpose that followed one of the darkest days in American history.
But I will never forget.
I will never forget the 2,977 innocent lives taken.
I will never forget the firefighters, law enforcement officers, first responders, military personnel, and ordinary citizens who demonstrated extraordinary courage.
I will never forget the families whose lives were forever changed.
And I will never forget how Americans came together afterward — not as Republicans or Democrats, not as people divided by our differences, but simply as Americans.
History must be remembered. Its lessons must be taught. And we must always strive to do better as a society and as a nation.
On this 25th anniversary of September 11, may God bless the victims, the heroes, their families, and all those whose lives were forever changed on that frozen day in history.
May God bless our first responders, our military, and the United States of America.
𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.
𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿.
𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁.
— Sheriff Bart Perrier
Osage County Sheriff …
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐰𝐨-𝐆𝐮𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫
𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐠𝐞, 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Henry Ben “Buck” Starr was born March 9, 1884, and married Mamie Bruner on October 27, 1915. Starr was Native American, believed to have been Cherokee, and his family’s ties to Indian Territory ran deep. Two of his children, Gibson and Josephine, attended the Chilocco Indian School, one of the federal Indian boarding schools that operated in the region and profoundly—and often painfully—shaped generations of Native families.
Starr’s own life would take him into another defining chapter of Oklahoma history.
During the rough-and-tumble years of the 1920s and early 1930s, Osage County lawmen operated in a world where oil money flowed freely, liquor flowed illegally, and violence often followed both. Few deputies embodied that era more fully than Buck Starr—a county deputy who would later become a federal officer and spend much of his career on the front lines of Prohibition enforcement.
Starr was appointed an Osage County Deputy Sheriff in October 1925, entering service at a time when the Osage Hills were crowded with bootleggers, car thieves, fugitives, and desperate men willing to shoot their way out of an arrest.
The job offered little comfort and even less certainty. Deputies worked long hours across one of Oklahoma’s largest counties, often traveling on isolated roads and confronting armed suspects with limited backup or communication. The danger was considerable, while the pay was modest. Records from 1926 and 1927 show Starr earning approximately $140 per month as a deputy.
For Buck Starr, however, the badge was only the beginning.
His career would soon carry him beyond the Osage County Sheriff’s Office and into federal service, placing him directly in the violent struggle between lawmen and the bootleggers who made illegal whiskey a thriving business during Prohibition.
𝗔 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲
Almost from the beginning, Buck Starr’s job placed him squarely in harm’s way. On January 1, 1925, before his official appointment had even fully settled, Starr was among the jailer’s taken hostage when five inmates overpowered guards at gunpoint. The escapees forced Starr and other jail staff into the jail bull pens and fled—an early reminder of how thin the line was between keeper and captive in that era.
By July 1926, Starr was trusted with some of the most serious duties a deputy could perform, transporting convicted prisoners to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester—long trips across open country with dangerous men in custody and little margin for error.
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀
Starr quickly developed a reputation as a determined and aggressive officer. In January 1927, he played a key role in recovering a stolen Buick Coach belonging to Dr. Roscoe Walker, apprehending suspects believed to be tied to the notorious Tecumseh jailbreak. The arrest unfolded at night after officers noticed suspicious movement on a back road. When suspects fled, shots were fired to halt the escape—typical of how quickly routine patrols could turn violent.
That same year, Starr transported Jep Whitehead, arrested on charges of wife desertion after abandoning his wife and twelve children near Wynona—another reminder that deputies handled everything from hardened criminals to deeply personal family tragedies.
By March 1928, Starr’s name appeared again in serious cases. He arrested Sephia Peters near Bartlesville on liquor charges, allegedly seizing six gallons of whiskey, five gallons of keg beer, eighty pints of homebrew, and sixty gallons of mash, the kind of haul that defined Prohibition enforcement in Osage County.
Only days later, on March 21, 1928, Starr arrested John J. Bruser and James Brunner on murder charges, demonstrating the wide range of crimes county deputies were expected to confront.
𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆
One of Starr’s most publicized cases came with the capture of the Havana, Kansas bank robbers, tracked to northern Osage County near Pearsonia. Acting on a tip, deputies—including Starr—closed in on the wounded fugitives, recovered stolen money, and lodged them in the Osage County Jail before returning them to Kansas authorities. The case underscored Osage County’s reputation as both refuge and trap for criminals on the run.
Starr’s effectiveness did not go unnoticed. He and fellow officers later received reward checks from the Governor for the capture of a hijacker—money that came only after dangerous, patient work carried out far from the public eye.
𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱
In March 1929, Buck Starr transitioned from county service to the federal level, becoming a federal prohibition officer and deputy marshal. The move placed him squarely in the center of liquor enforcement across northeastern Oklahoma. He frequently transported federal prisoners to Leavenworth Penitentiary, often moving large groups of repeat offenders—many facing years behind bars.
Federal service brought new dangers. In June 1929, Starr was seriously injured near Bartlesville, struck in the head with a full beer bottle while attempting an arrest. Knocked unconscious, cut by broken glass, and robbed of his revolver, Starr survived. Suspects were later arrested—still in possession of his weapon.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴
Starr’s career reached its turning point in 1933, during a raid on a liquor still along Rattlesnake Creek between Pawhuska and Bigheart. When Bryan Fletcher fled the scene, Starr fired after repeated commands to halt. Fletcher was mortally wounded and later died at the hospital.
The shooting ignited public controversy. Manslaughter charges were filed against Starr by the county attorney following complaints from Fletcher’s family. Starr reported that he fired only after issuing multiple warnings, but the case followed him relentlessly, appearing in headlines and court filings alike.
Then, abruptly, Buck Starr vanished.
By May 1933, his position as Special Indian Officer was filled by another appointee. Court records show no resolution. No burial has ever been located. No confirmed record of his life—or death—has surfaced after the charges were filed.
𝗔 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗨𝗻𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻
Outside the courtroom and the raids, Buck Starr was deeply involved in his community. He served as a Legion leader and Sergeant-at-Arms with the Pawhuska American Legion, and his wife was equally active in Legion affairs. Like many lawmen of the era, he balanced civic duty with dangerous public service.
But unlike most, his story ends in silence.
No grave.
No obituary.
No confirmed trail beyond 1933. …
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Happy Labor Day!
Today, we recognize the hardworking men and women whose dedication, sacrifice, and determination help keep our communities strong.
From all of us at the Osage County Sheriff’s Office, we wish you and your family a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable Labor Day.
As you celebrate, please travel safely, celebrate responsibly, and look out for one another.
Happy Labor Day, Osage County!
#LaborDay #OsageCounty #OsageCountySheriffsOffice #StaySafe …
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𝐎𝐂𝐒𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office is proud to recognize the recent promotion of Bobby Sappington Jr. to Patrol Lieutenant.
This promotion recognizes his experience, leadership, professionalism, and continued commitment to serving the citizens of Osage County.
Please join us in congratulating:
⭐ Lieutenant Bobby Sappington Jr.
Lt. Sappington has been promoted from Patrol Sergeant to Patrol Lieutenant. In this leadership role, he will oversee the Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division, supervise Patrol Sergeants, coordinate daily patrol operations, and help ensure consistency, accountability, and professional law enforcement services throughout Osage County.
The Patrol Division serves as the front line of the Sheriff’s Office, with deputies responding to calls for service, patrolling communities and rural areas, enforcing traffic and criminal laws, and responding to critical incidents around the clock. Lt. Sappington will play an important role in leading those operations and supporting the deputies and supervisors who serve our county each day.
Congratulations to Lt. Bobby Sappington Jr. on his well-earned promotion.
We look forward to his continued leadership and service to the citizens of Osage County.
#OsageCountySheriffsOffice #OCSO #Leadership #Promotion #Patrol #OsageCounty …
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🚨 THE OSAGE COUNTY JAIL IS HIRING!
Looking for a career in law enforcement? Starting as a Detention Officer is a great place to begin.
Gain valuable experience, develop important skills, serve your community, and build a strong foundation for a future in law enforcement.
If you’re ready for a challenging and rewarding career, your opportunity starts here.
Join the Osage County Sheriff’s Office team!
#OCSO #NowHiring #DetentionOfficer #LawEnforcementCareers #Corrections #OsageCounty …
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