By Emma Murphy, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite criticism from state lawmakers, the head of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety on Thursday dug his heels in on a plan to pull patrols from seven urban and suburban areas.
Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s resources will be reallocated to rural areas beginning Nov. 1 because of higher call volume and changing traffic patterns throughout the state. The responsibility to patrol interstates within the metros will shift to local law enforcement.
“It’s not an easy decision,” Tipton said. “No doubt, it is somewhat of a burden on these other agencies to be able to take those calls for service. Every one of these agencies are highly trained and very professional law enforcement agencies. And in weighing this, it is what is the best footprint for us as a state law enforcement agency that need to provide the best coverage for public safety statewide.”
At least three state lawmakers have criticized the plan since it was first publicly unveiled July 3, including the chair of the House public safety budget subcommittee. Another legislator has asked for an Attorney General opinion on the legality of this change. The state agency, housed under the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, has been responsible for patrolling state highways since 1937.
Over a third of the state’s population resides in the seven metro areas slated to lose the Highway Patrol’s services, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Edmond, Moore, Norman, Midwest City and Del City, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
While the Highway Patrol has 589 troopers spread across the state, the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas have around 2,000 sworn officers each from local law enforcement agencies, Tipton said.
This shift was previously considered in 2002, he said, but ultimately was not implemented.
“It’s 24/7 that we’ve got large traffic volume and large numbers of calls for service in those areas where there’s nobody else to take those calls,” Tipton said.
The Highway Patrol also assists other law enforcement agencies, sometimes even with calls that aren’t related to collisions, the commissioner said.
“In the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas, there’s literally thousands of police officers who can respond to that,” Tipton said. “You get out in Troop H in western Oklahoma and the resources are very limited. So now, if I have to pull that county trooper, send him home because he’s already worked his shift, now I’m leaving everybody in jeopardy. So it’s not just the interstate. It affects the county calls as well as the interstate calls.”
Throughout the state, calls for assistance will still be answered and Highway Patrol officers will still offer assistance for major events, like the recent Thunder championship parade, he said.
Troopers will still patrol the state Capitol complex.
They will continue to patrol the state’s turnpikes. Tipton said the Highway Patrol is the only law enforcement agency that can work the turnpikes and has primary jurisdiction. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority contracts with the Highway Patrol to provide enforcement.
With the new patrol reallocation, troopers will be able to constantly monitor interstate traffic and be covering less than 30 miles of road during their shifts, Tipton said. Troopers currently stationed in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metros will be shifted to nearby troops, but will not have to move, he said.
The boundaries of the current 13 field troops will be shifted and a new “interstate troop” will be created and headquartered in Oklahoma City.
Sarah Stewart, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, said state highways are already under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement.
The current Oklahoma City headquarters will serve the new “interstate troop.” Plans for new headquarters in Tulsa are not affected, nor are plans for future Clinton and Ardmore headquarters and a new tactical training facility.
Tipton said part of his job is to be a “good steward” of Oklahoma taxpayer dollars. He believes the local law enforcement can handle the additional enforcement responsibilities, he said.
“People from Oklahoma City call me in the middle of the night and say ‘My daughter was headed home from Dallas. She broke down somewhere in the Arbuckle Mountains. Can you get a trooper to her?’,” he said. “So they have an expectation outside of Oklahoma City as well as inside of Oklahoma City. It’s a statewide expectation.”https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Rd9Nm/1/
Oklahoma Highway Patrol would need 1,100 officers to cover the state, he said. Tipton said he’s been vocal at the Capitol about the needs of the agency, but did not request more funding to increase the number of state troopers.
“At some point, I guess the decision has to be made, he said. “How big do you want to grow state government? And are all those things necessary? Or can we go through partnerships such as this to take up duties and responsibilities that allow us to meet the missions that are the most critical.”
On average, Tipton said Oklahoma City will respond to an additional 13 calls per day for collisions. Tulsa and Moore are expected to have just over one additional call, and the rest of the municipalities are estimated to have less than one call per day, on average.
Oklahoma elected officials and local law enforcement were informed of the change before it was announced, the commissioner said.
Tipton said he initially spoke with Gov. Kevin Stitt in June about the Highway Patrol’s needs and outlined the plan of action. The governor, who appointed Tipton as commissioner, supported moving forward with the plan, he said.
The commissioner said he met with chiefs of police to explain the change and the reasons behind it.
“They’re in a situation where they feel they’re stretched for calls for service as well, and I fully understand that,” he said. “So, you know, in contributing to it, I’m guessing that they would rather we not do this, obviously. But I will say some of them, if they take the perspective of what our job is as state law enforcement and the Highway Patrol, they understand. Not to say that they agree with it or like it, because it is going to put a burden on them, an additional manpower burden on them as well.”
Tipton said he sent notice of the resource reallocation to Oklahoma House and Senate leadership before it was announced.
