Tulsa Police prepare for OHP to shift resources out of Tulsa

The Tulsa Police Department is preparing for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's plan to shift its focus from patrolling in the Tulsa area to rural areas with less law enforcement coverage.

OHP says starting in November troopers will no longer work interstates in the Tulsa or Oklahoma City areas. That means Tulsa Police, Oklahoma City Police and other local law enforcement agencies will work those interstates.

Why is OHP shifting resources?

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it's shifting its focus to higher-need areas across the state with less law enforcement coverage. OHP will reallocate resources to areas of the state with the greatest need for patrol presence.

OHP says it will focus on interstates and highways with high traffic volumes but fewer local law enforcement officers.

How will this affect Tulsa Police?

Tulsa Police is still about a hundred officers short so they say this extra workload will impact the department, but it's too early to say how much.

Starting in November, Tulsa Police will work all crashes and patrol the highways and interstates in Tulsa.

Right now, OHP patrols and works all crashes on I-44, I-244 and the IDL in the city limits of Tulsa, while Tulsa Police works highways like the Broken Expressway, Highway 169 and Highway 75.

"For us, we are going to transition into taking those over, so it will be more burdensome toward the department, I don't know right now how burdensome that's going to be," said Captain Richard Meulenberg with Tulsa Police.

How much will the change increase the Tulsa Police workload?

Captain Meulenberg says they won't know how much this will affect their workload until they get data from OHP that shows the number of collisions troopers work on the interstates. But, he says Tulsa Police are ready to handle the new responsibility.

"The other part of that is, having the skillset to work complicated collisions involving interstate travel and involving wrecks, we also have that skillset. So this really is just a matter of calls that we will take that didn't happen before," said Meulenberg. "OHP is still here, they have a presence here with the turnpikes and everything around the city, but they are leaving the city to us and the county."

Will this change affect the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office?

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office says this won't affect their operations. OHP will still respond to crashes in the county.