Sergeant Tanner Muckenthaler currently serves as a field training supervisor and lead defensive tactics instructor with the Branson Police Department. Sgt. Muckenthaler has dedicated himself to leadership and the betterment of first responders in the region and is well respected among his peers and officers as an intelligent patrol supervisor who is fair and always encourages growth and development focused on progressive policing principles. 

Sgt. Muckenthaler has positively impacted southwest Missouri in a way that few others have. By securing a grant from the Skaggs Foundations, he single-handedly developed and launched the Ozark Mountain Peer Support Team. He worked with partner agencies and developed a multiagency, multidisciplinary model that would ensure that all first responders in the region had access to peer support. A recent success story of the peer support team came after an officer-involved shooting, in which individual peer support specialists were available for each of the three officers, as well as the involved dispatchers, firefighters, and paramedics—one was even available for a records clerk who knew the deceased. 

Sgt. Muckenthaler also developed an electronic tracking system to identify and provide resources to those experiencing homelessness in the region. He also worked with his fellow officers to identify and refer people experiencing homelessness to mental health professionals who would respond to a person’s last known location. 

Sgt. Muckenthaler has earned several departmental, city, and state commendations, to include the Medal of Valor, and was requested to present his peer support team model to the 2022 Missouri State CIT Conference. 

“I found law enforcement to truly be a noble profession that would provide me the opportunity to make a positive impact in my community.”