Burglary Task Force Arrests 36, Serves 67 Warrants

Burglary task force touts its early success

By DAVID SCHULTE World Staff Writer
3/20/2008

A new burglary task force is taking guns off the streets and putting criminals in jail, the Tulsa Police Department announced Wednesday. The task force is an outgrowth of the department's Safe City Initiative, which was launched last fall to target repeat offenders and crime hot spots.

Police began the task force March 9 after noting an increase in burglaries in recent years, Police Chief Ron Palmer said at a press conference.

He noted that roughly 600 more burglaries were committed in Tulsa in 2007 than during the year before. Statistics previously released by the Police Department show that 6,843 burglaries were committed in 2007 -- a 10 percent increase from 2006.

Palmer said both residential and commercial burglaries have spiked. The task force consists of 24 officers from each of the Police Department's three uniform divisions.

Already, task force officers have made 36 arrests and seized 11 guns, according to information provided by the department. Eleven seized guns in less than two weeks is a high number for the department, Deputy Chief Dennis Larsen said.

Deputy Chief Mark McCrory noted that the number of arrests already is an indication that the task force is an effective crime-prevention tool.

"We want to scoop people (burglars) off the street as fast as we can," he said. "Our hope is to make their life miserable."

Police officials said the majority of daytime burglaries were committed at homes.A large number of home burglaries were committed by students who were truant from school, and police are working with school resource officers to prevent the crimes, Palmer said. Most nighttime burglaries were committed in commercial areas, police said.

Palmer credited the public for calling the Police Department and 911 when they suspect that a crime is in progress. He encouraged residents to continue to do so. Larsen said that "one of the main purposes of the task force was to use our resources to reduce burglaries and to improve the quality of life in Tulsa."

The department plans to evaluate the task force's effectiveness as a burglary-prevention measure every 30 days, he added.

David Schulte 581-8367
david.schulte@tulsaworld.com

Since the burglary task force’s inception March 9:

36 arrests made
11 guns seized
67 warrants served

Source: Tulsa World