Safe City: Cruising for criminals

STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World
Bill Jenkins (left) and Keith Osterdyk, Tulsa police officers with the Safe City Initiative, drive through a parking lot at a Tulsa shopping mall Thursday evening.

STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World

Safe City task force officers will be patrolling shopping areas in marked cars, as they are shown doing here Thursday night, but undercover officers also will use unmarked cars as they watch for robbers and car burglars during the holiday season.

By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer
11/10/2007

Task force to ring in 2008

The Tulsa Police Department will extend the Safe City Initiative -- a citywide task force that targets crime by geographic area -- through the end of the year.

While the unit will continue to focus on violent criminals and crime hotspots, one of the main objectives for Safe City officers in the coming weeks will be cracking down on people who prey on holiday shoppers.

''Keeping the unit in place is not adversely impacting calls for service. It is actually supporting calls for service,'' Police Chief Ron Palmer said of the assistance Safe City officers provide to patrol officers.

''We think we are still getting benefits from the Safe City Initiative, so we are going to continue with it for a while.''

Since it began Aug. 26, the unit has made about 200 arrests, including about 150 for felony crimes. Its officers have arrested about 50 career criminals and about 20 people on robbery warrants or for robberies that had just occurred.

The officers have also arrested five shooting suspects and one homicide suspect and seized at least 30 guns, Capt. Matt Kirkland said.

Palmer said it makes sense to keep the unit in place through the holidays to support officers in the field.

While final plans are still in the works, Kirkland said Safe City officers will be patrolling shopping areas in marked police cars but that undercover officers also will be there.

The unit will also use decoy cars to catch car burglars, he said.

''We will use the cars to entice people who are out casing parking lots. If someone at tempts to burglarize the vehicles, we will be able to take them down in the act,'' Kirkland said.

The Safe City officers will work with uniformed officers and other units to ensure the safety of shoppers and other people who are out during the busy holiday season, Kirkland said. The department may even use bicycle and foot pa trols, he said.

''It is going to be a combined effort on the part of the whole department,'' Kirkland said.

Catching robbers has been one of the unit's main goals, but its officers have realized that violent criminals are committing crossover crimes.

''As we learned more about the individuals involved, we have begun putting more of a focus on burglaries, as well, because we are seeing that a lot of the robbers are out there committing burglaries,'' Kirkland said.

Earlier this week, undercover Safe City officers arrested two armed robbery suspects believed by police to have just committed two robberies, including one of a pizza delivery worker.

The Safe City officers maintained surveillance on an apartment where the robbers were believed to live. When the suspects showed up, the officers took an 18-year-old and a juvenile into custody. The juvenile had an ankle monitor on because he was on probation for shooting with intent to kill, according to police.

After the end of the year, the department's administration will consider whether the task force will continue, Kirkland said.

Nicole Marshall 581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com

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