Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen announces retirement after nearly five decades of service
Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen plans to retire after nearly five decades of service, according to a City of Tulsa announcement dated July 20, 2026.
The announcement signals an upcoming leadership transition for the Tulsa Police Department. The city’s available press-room listing does not state Larsen’s final day in office or provide a timetable for selecting the next chief.
No successor or candidate list is identified in the available city information. The materials also do not describe how the succession process will be conducted.
A transition at the police department
The city characterized Larsen’s tenure as nearly 50 years. His planned retirement means Tulsa will need a succession process for the police chief position, although the available announcement does not set out the next procedural steps or a deadline.
For the department, the immediate confirmed development is the retirement announcement. The timing of Larsen’s departure remains unresolved in the available information, as does the timeline for the city to name a replacement.
That leaves the chief’s position headed toward a transition without a publicly stated schedule in the source material. Residents, department employees and other people who interact with the police department have not been given a final departure date or successor-selection timetable through the available listing.
Planned fourth patrol division remains separate
The planned retirement comes while the department is also preparing a separate patrol-coverage restructuring. A March 11 report from the Tulsa Regional Chamber said a fourth patrol division was planned to begin at the end of August 2026.
The proposed division is intended to focus on downtown and adjacent areas. It would cover 8.5 square miles, including the Inner Dispersal Loop, Gathering Place, Cherry Street, Greenwood and Pearl districts.
The patrol plan was described as a restructuring of boundaries using the department’s existing number of officers. It was not described as an increase in the number of officers.
The fourth division remains a plan in the available reporting, rather than a division confirmed to be operating. The cited information does not establish whether the reorganization will proceed unchanged during or after the leadership transition.
What happens next
The end of August 2026 is the next stated operational milestone for the planned patrol division. For Larsen’s retirement and the selection of a new chief, the available sources do not provide further dates.
The retirement announcement and patrol-division plan were reported separately. The available materials do not link the planned coverage change to Larsen’s decision to retire, and they do not identify any changes to the patrol plan resulting from the transition.
Sources
- Press Room – City of Tulsa, City of Tulsa
- Tulsa Police Department to establish fourth patrol division, Tulsa Regional Chamber