A Tulsa Police detective who has spent more than a decade investigating some of the darkest cases imaginable — child homicides, torture, sexual abuse and severe neglect — was named the 2026 Oklahoma Officer of the Year. Detective Paula Maker received the statewide honor from Attorney General Gentner Drummond at a ceremony in Oklahoma City, capping a recognition process that began weeks earlier with a regional award.
Drummond named Maker the 2026 Oklahoma Officer of the Year, according to NewsOn6. The award followed her earlier selection as the Northeast Region Officer of the Year, a title the attorney general bestowed on October 6, as reported by 96.5 KRMG. KOCO reports Maker is the first woman to receive Oklahoma's statewide Officer of the Year honor.
A Decade in Tulsa's Child Crisis Unit
Maker has served for 12 years as an investigator in the Tulsa Police Department's Child Crisis Unit, the same KRMG report states. In that role, she handles cases involving child homicides, torture, sexual abuse and severe neglect — the kind of casework that rarely makes headlines until it reaches a courtroom.
Over the past 18 months, Maker spearheaded a complex child torture and no-body homicide investigation that required painstaking work and ultimately resulted in multiple life sentences for the perpetrators, per the station's report. She has since led additional child torture investigations and a major child sexual abuse case that drew national attention, according to NewsOn6's reporting.
Mentoring the Next Generation of Detectives
Beyond her own caseload, Maker is the senior detective in her unit. NewsOn6 notes she has mentored six newer detectives and serves on the department's Peer-2-Peer team, a role focused on supporting fellow officers. Maker said her work has never been motivated by awards, and described helping children after they experience trauma as the reward in itself, according to the seed facts underlying this story.
Maker said she was shocked after receiving the statewide recognition, according to those same facts. She was recognized this week at a ceremony in Oklahoma City alongside the state's other regional officers of the year and more than 40 nominees, KTUL reports.
How the Statewide Award Works
Drummond created the Officer of the Year program to recognize and celebrate the best and brightest across Oklahoma's federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agencies, KTUL reports. Regional winners, including Maker, were selected by judging panels made up of city, county, tribal and state criminal justice professionals before the statewide honor was announced.
Drummond praised Maker's record directly, saying she has investigated some of the most difficult crimes imaginable but never wavered in professionalism or compassion, according to KTUL's account of the ceremony. The attorney general also commended her dedication, underscoring a career built around cases that demand both investigative rigor and emotional resilience.
