Blackwater Police Department
Led by Oswald Dunbar (Chief of Police)
Blackwater Police Department operates around Great Plains and Tall Trees regions, with 5 named members.
- Leaders
- Oswald Dunbar (Chief of Police)
- Status
- Active
- Territory
- Great Plains and Tall Trees regions, West Elizabeth
- Affiliations
- Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals
Player notes
The Blackwater Police Department is the uniformed law force responsible for Blackwater and southern West Elizabeth, covering the Great Plains and Tall Trees south of the Upper Montana River. Chief Oswald Dunbar leads the department. Its officers wear dark blue coats with gold buttons, badges and police hats. The department works alongside the Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals, while its headquarters stands on the east side of Blackwater.
Arthur Morgan's story first comes into contact with the department's territory after the Van der Linde gang's 1899 ferry robbery in Blackwater erupts into the Blackwater Massacre. Southern West Elizabeth is placed under lockdown as the gang escapes north. Pinkerton agents conduct most of the patrols during the immediate crisis, and Blackwater residents resent their presence. Arthur and the gang remain unable to return to the town while the search continues.
By 1907, the viewpoint follows John Marston as Blackwater has expanded into a busy, industrial town where the law is closely enforced. The existing police station remains on the town's east side, while a larger replacement is under construction at the northern plaza. The department's officers face the Skinner Brothers, who attack and mutilate travellers in Tall Trees, while continuing to police Blackwater and the surrounding country.
Trivia
- ◆One of the bounties - Otis Skinner - if brought alive will eventually tell the player to "get lost unless you are searching for a deputy badge." Interestingly one of the drawers of the police department has a deputy badge. It is in the drawer next to a wall that leads to a back alley behind the Police Department.
- ◆If John accumulates a significant bounty in Blackwater, lawmen will not arrive on horseback to engage in pursuit as they usually do. Instead, wagons carrying six officers each will go after him.
- ◆If the player interacts with Blackwater Lawmen they will not speak. This is possibly a glitch similar to the one in MacFarlane's Ranch where female NPCs will not respond to the player.
- ◆In Red Dead Online, the Blackwater lawmen can only speak in "Call to Arms" if the location is set at Blackwater.
- ◆Instead of there being a lawman to collect the bounties from Marston in Blackwater belonging to its local police department, the Sheriff Dell Hopkins from New Austin will give out the money, accompanied by U.S. Marshals. This is likely because there is no designated police captain in Blackwater with the authority to handle bounties.
- ◆Despite their size, they make no appearance in Undead Nightmare, neither as survivors nor as Undead.
- ◆However, undead in police uniforms can be seen in a few promotional screenshots, complete with their badges and some with custodian helmets.
Named members
5The members with pages of their own are linked. The rest are named by the wiki but have no article to point at.
Arthur Shodlow · Bernard Weaver · Edwin Jeffers · Eli Tucker · Morgan Sterling
Last verified September 14, 2026