Wallace selected as next Chief of Police at MPD

By Jacob Sturm
[email protected]

With the imminent retirement of Mustang Police Chief Rob Groseclose, Mustang has been in
search of the person poised to take over in the role in the next month.

During Mustang’s City Council meeting earlier in April, it was announced that the city had found
their man for the job in longtime resident and officer Mike Wallace.

“I’m honored and very excited,” Wallace said. “I’ve dedicated my entire career here at
Mustang, and to work up and earn that position is humbling. Truly it means a ton to me. It’s
very rewarding to see that the work that I’ve put forth throughout my career has led me to this
opportunity to lead the people that we have now. It means a lot.”

Wallace has quite a bit of experience in close proximity to the Chief of Police role he is set to
step into in the coming weeks.

For one, he has worked closely with current police chief Rob Groseclose, and has tried to
prepare for the possibility of getting the opportunity. Wallace has served as the Deputy Chief at
the Mustang Police Department, with much of the work coming from the position serving as a
way to prepare for the opportunity as police chief.

Groseclose’s announcement of retirement came sooner than many expected, and Wallace said
the he had not made plans for any significant changes once he assumes the role.

“My plan is to maintain the trajectory that we’re on because I think we’re in a good position
and a good place,” Wallace said. “If I could concentrate on enhancing some of the programs
that we have got in place, that would be my first goal. There’s nothing specific there. I just
know that we have made a vast amount of change in the last seven years. So, all of that just
needs to be continued to enhance those changes. There’s not a dramatic amount of change
that is needed right now.”

Wallace first joined the Mustang Police Department in 1999 as a reserve officer. In the role, he
volunteered part-time before eventually going full-time in 2000. He went back to reserve status
for a couple of years starting in 2006, while maintaining his police officer commission through
Mustang the full time, before picking back up and being full-time at MPD ever since.

He also worked in traffic accident investigations for more than 15 years while working for the
Mustang Police Department, and has a tremendous amount of investigative experience with
traffic collisions. He also commanded the investigations at MPD for four years and eventually
became a liaison with Canadian County’s prosecutor’s office.

Wallace said the community, and the employees within the city, have been extremely
supportive of Wallace since the announcement came during the Mustang City Council meeting
in April.

“This has been my home, this has been my community since very early in life, and I feel like the
people that have reached out are super supportive of this decision,” Wallace said. “It’s very
humbling to know that people recognize the impact maybe that I’ve had along my career and
they seem to be supportive of this decision. That’s really an awesome feeling.”

Mustang Mayor Brian Grider also stated his support for Wallace.

“I’m incredibly excited for Mike Wallace to be our next chief,” Grider said. “I’ve known Mike for
probably 20 years or so, knew him long before I was on the council or had to do anything with
the city. I knew him during his first stint whenever he was an officer with the city of Mustang,
and he has always been a man of integrity. He’s always been somebody that’s always been well
respected within the community… Our community loves him and supports him and respects
him. He has always led so well in the different roles that he’s had. I think he’ll do a phenomenal
job moving forward as our Chief of Police.”

MPD has had multiple retirements within the department happening simultaneously with
Wallace taking over as the next police chief. That means MPD will be focused on backfilling the
staff and making internal promotions.

That will make Wallace a pretty busy man once his time starts. If you ask Wallace, he’ll tell you
that the promotion is not just about him.

“I was selected for this position because the department is in a good place, and we’re doing
good things, and that’s because of the team that we have in place,” Wallace said. “We have
some of the best, well-trained, professional employees that I know of especially in the state of
Oklahoma (and) the people that I know. This is a great police department with great people.
The fact that I’ve been asked to move into this role is a statement of the fact that things are
good and people are doing the right things… I couldn’t be more proud of who we have working
for us. That has made the Deputy Chief’s role that I’ve filled so much better and so much easier.
I don’t suspect it to change as we move forward. I am truly honored to work with this group of
people.”

Support is also abundant from his family regarding the position.

“I’ve got a ton of support from my family,” Wallace said. “This community is also my family’s
home, and they’ve supported me on this journey my entire career and they’re also very excited
to see me take on this role.”