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Boosters Seek Private Funding for Tulsa County Sheriff's Office

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

A foundation has been set up to accept private dollars on behalf of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

"Law enforcement personnel, professional training, top-notch equipment and a transparent, community response requires additional funding to accomplish the goal of providing the best public safety in Tulsa County," said Tulsa County Sheriff’s Foundation Chairman Tim Harris.

The initial goal is $300,000 in private donations to fund body cameras for all deputies and to hire someone to oversee a new citizens advisory board.

"There's never enough tax dollars to meet the need of what people are trying to do," Harris said. "I was [district attorney] for 16 years, and we always were scrambling to do things on behalf of the community with budgets that were getting less and less and less and less."

About two-thirds of the initial $300,000 raised will go toward body cameras and their operation for three years. The other third will fund the position over the new citizens advisory board. Sheriff Vic Regalado said he won’t rule out board members critical of the agency for it.

"What I would say is that we're looking for people that are not just going to point a finger, but they're going to point a finger and then be a part of a solution. I think there's a big difference," Regalado said.

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was formalized in August 2016. Its board of trustees consists of Harris, McGrath LLC President Jon McGrath, American Bank and Trust Company President and CEO Frazier Henke, construction management consultant Bob Jack, and education and community advocate Rebecca Marks Jimerson.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.