TPD Blog

100th Academy Class Graduates

Tulsa Police Department graduates 100th class

by: NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Friday, June 26, 2009

The Tulsa Police Academy graduated 10 officers today despite the city’s budgetary woes that threatened possible layoffs of the officers before they even graduated.

Union and city leaders announced that Tulsa’s police and firefighters will take eight unpaid furlough days with the rest of the city’s workforce to alleviate the financial situation. The contracts, reached after weeks of negotiations, still must be ratified by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 and Tulsa Firefighters Local 176 memberships before they are final.

Today’s class is the 100th class to graduate from the academy, said Maj. Rod Hummel. It is also the first academy in which all of the officers graduate with a top in rating in the Coopers Fitness Test and all averaged and A grade in academics, Hummel said.

Police Chief Ron Palmer said that it may have been one of the smallest classes that he has seen, but the nine men and one woman who graduated on Friday proved themselves to be survivors.

“They have demonstrated courage and tenacity to take on the challenges of our society and to protect and serve our citizens with little regard for their own personal safety,” Palmer said.

The officers come from a variety of backgrounds, including education, professional baseball and banking. Two of off the officers are the sons of Tulsa police officers.

For most of the academy, the class contained 11 cadets, but Tulsa Police Cadet Chris Westcott, the son of City Councilor Rick Westcott, resigned amid controversy over the legality of his police employment. State nepotism laws prevent the city from hiring a relative of an elected official while the official is serving.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20090626_11_0_TheTul659666

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State officials: Seat-belt use is saving lives

By AARON CRESPO NewsOK.com
Published: 6/23/2009 

Fewer Oklahomans are dying in traffic accidents, and officials are crediting a higher use of seat belts.

Last year, 84.3 percent of Oklahomans used seat belts, according to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office.

That's up 1.2 percent from 2007 and 16.4 percent from 2001.

The national average seat belt compliance rate is 83 percent, although some states have compliance rates nearing 100 percent.

The Highway Safety Office reports that 53.7 percent of motorists who died in traffic accidents in 2007 — the most recent year for which numbers are available — were not wearing seat belts.

Statewide, traffic deaths decreased in 2008 from the previous year and are down so far this year.

"The trend is that as seat-belt compliance increases, fatalities decrease," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Chris West said. "And that's even with an increase of the total number of collisions that are occurring."

In addition to enforcement of the primary seat-belt law, officials credit awareness campaigns and education with the increase in seat-belt use.

Rural areas tend to have lower compliance rates. People who drive trucks with farm tags are not required to wear seat belts.

Justin Grego, safety director for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, teaches a defensive driving class to farmers. He said the issue of seat belts always comes up.

"A lot of them tell me, 'I'm just getting on a county road and I'm going four miles from the house or five miles from the house to feed these cows or to check on these cows, and I don't want to put my seat belt on because I'm only going 25 or 30 mph,' " Grego said. "I always tell farmers, 'It's not you; it's the other person that you need to worry about.'

"A lot of the farmers don't think they drive on the interstates enough, but it's not the interstates where we have the most fatal wrecks; it's on these two-lane Oklahoma highways."

acrespo@opubco.com

By AARON CRESPO NewsOK.com

Tulsa Police Arrest Commercial Burglars

Two arrested in string of commercial break-ins

Police arrested two men early Wednesday on complaints accusing them of stealing several flat-screen televisions from businesses in the last few months.

Antonio Sells, 25, and Bennie Denson, 26, were arrested on seven second-degree burglary complaints in connection with break-ins at Tulsa businesses that included restaurants, a dentist's office and a trucking company.

More complaints could be added as detectives continue to investigate whether the pair could be tied to other burglaries, Sgt. Brandon Watkins said. At least 20 to 30 commercial burglaries in the last few months could be connected, he said.

Watkins said the property loss is in the tens of thousands of dollars and that in many cases, more damage was done to the businesses than the stolen property was worth, Watkins said.

The suspects were arrested after Officer Ryan Woods heard a burglar alarm in the area of 61st Street and Garnett Road about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

He determined that Airco Service Inc., a heating and air, plumbing and electrical business at 11331 E. 58th St., had been broken into but that the burglars had fled after trying to steal a flat-screen television.

Watkins said that when burglary detectives heard the call dispatched, "they knew it fit the profile of these guys who had already been developed as suspects, so they had dispatch broadcast the description of their vehicle and the tag number."

Cpl. B.C. Leonard soon stopped the vehicle near 11th Street and Denver Avenue. Sells and Denson were in it.

Meanwhile, Officer Shane Goben reviewed surveillance video at Airco. Based on what he saw on the video, Sells and Denson were arrested.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090618_11_A8_Police1473

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