Armed robberies a top priority

By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer

9/30/2007

Tulsa's Safe City Initiative task force aims to reduce violent crime.

A spate of armed robberies in Tulsa has made capturing violent bandits a top priority for Safe City Initiative officers.

The task force hit the streets Aug. 26 with the goal of reducing violent crime. Since then, they have made 110 arrests and seized 10 guns, Capt. Matt Kirkland said.

They have also assisted detectives in their investigations and patrol officers on violent crime calls throughout the city.

Within the last week there have been numerous armed robberies -- including nine in one day. A few of the robberies have been home invasions, and in several cases victims were pistol-whipped.

Robbery Unit Sgt. Dave Walker said several of the heists may be related, so the department has stepped up efforts to catch the crooks.

Safe City officers start their shifts by reviewing tips from Robbery Unit detectives and then take to the streets to look for the potential robbers, Sgt. Glen Moore and Cpl. Quentin Houck said.

''We get daily updates from them on who is hot, any suspects they know, . . . any vehicles that have been seen, . . . and we just take it and run with their information to try and locate their suspects,'' Moore said.

''If they don't have any specific suspects or information, we just look at the areas that have been hit the hardest,'' he said.

Last week, the task force arrested four people who have previously been arrested or convicted of robbery on a variety of misdemeanor and felony charges, Kirkland said.

On the Thursday night and early Friday shift alone, Safe City officers found four people on the Robbery Unit's tip sheet, including one man who police say shot at someone and ran from them earlier that night.

Early Friday, Safe City officers were searching for a gunman who seriously wounded a teen at 61st Street and Peoria Avenue when they came in contact with a man who had a warrant for failure to pay court costs in an armed robbery case. They arrested Maricus Moore, 21, on that warrant, records show. They also conduct surveillance of targets identified by robbery detectives, and Houck said Safe City officers respond to scenes immediately after robberies to work with patrol officers in searching for fleeing bandits.

''We have the ability to flood an area after a robbery occurs,'' he said.

The officers said their presence alone may be helping to prevent some robberies.

One night last week, Safe City officers watched locations frequented by suspects and kept a close eye on them when the suspects were out driving around.

''Maybe they were planning to do one (a robbery) that night. They certainly didn't,'' Moore said. ''It is hard to determine when you prevent a crime. You just never know.''

Anyone with information about any of the recent robberies is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-COPS. The Crime Commission offers rewards for information that leads to arrests, and callers can be anonymous.

Nicole Marshall 581-8459

nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com

Copyright Tulsa World 2007. Format differs from original publication.