The town of Copper Canyon has selected a police chief to lead its new police department.
The Town Council voted last summer to create a police department because the Denton County Sheriff’s Office wasn’t able to provide enough deputies on contract, Mayor Ron Robertson said last year. The town has selected Roger Tighe as its first police chief.
Tighe has 25 years of law enforcement experience in Texas, according to Robertson. He began his career with the Copperas Cove Police Department in 1998 as a reserve officer before becoming a full-time police officer for the city of Nolanville in 2000. He worked up the ranks there before transferring to the Central Texas College Police Department, then the Knox County Sheriff’s Office as chief deputy. Upon completion of a bachelor’s degree in 2013, Tighe accepted the position of chief of police and director of campus safety for Cisco College, where he has served since December 2015.
In his tenure as chief, Tighe grew the department by adding a full-time evening shift officer, four auxiliary police officers and ensured that all unsworn campus safety officers were trained and licensed to either the Level II (unarmed) or Level III (armed) certification through the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Private Security Bureau.
Tighe earned a Master of Criminal Justice through Tarleton State University in 2020, and he is a graduate of the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas Leadership Command College Class. He is also a field training officer, TASER and firearms instructor and certified to provide ALERRT Level I active shooter and solo officer rapid deployment training. He is a father of two children, an 11-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.
Tighe is expected to be sworn in at the Town Council meeting on May 13. A meet-and-greet event will be held at Town Hall from 5-6:30 p.m. on May 21.
