Tulsa’s public safety task force asks the police and fire departments about their past performance and what they could do if properly funded.
Police officials told councilors about things they’ve already done to save money: Hiring crime analysts, enhancing online reporting and using less-lethal weapons. With more funding, they say response times and traffic deaths will go down.
The number of injuries and deaths from car crashes is one of TPD’s performance indicators.
"If we're considered a large city, we have the smallest traffic enforcement unit — motorcycles," said Deputy Chief Jonathan Brooks. "If we want to be more proactive on reducing those high-injury crashes and reducing fatalities, then we need to have officers to be able to deploy in that capacity."
In 2013, the number of traffic injuries and deaths fell 15 percent, but last year it didn’t change.
Although the department tracks response time and crime stats, mental health calls were a big challenge last year.
"We had over 333 transports that were made outside the city alone, resulting in 60,000 miles of officers' time that we have to deal with," Brooks said. "Now, when we talk about adding officers, and we're wanting to reduce crime and reduce our response time, there's other things that we have to do that just doesn't give us that metric."
Brooks said mental health calls often tie up two officers for several hours. Such incidents accounted for about three percent of TPD’s total calls last year.
While with more funding, response times and traffic deaths may go down, Brooks said they may need to consider another pressing matter.
"With all the recent considerations going on with the jail, we may have to look at the ultimate option of trying to either to a study or establish whether operating a municipal jail is feasible," Brooks said.
For months, the city and county have failed to reach a new long-term jail agreement.
Councilors asked fire officials about what they’ve done to save money. Deputy Chief Andy Teeter said TFD started bending its own metal, and was able to fix one of their trucks that was hit by a car.
"Instead of a $500,000 refurb from the manufacturer, that truck's been — for very little expense — rehabbed in house and will now be a piece of equipment at our new training center," Teeter said.
Teeter said the department has also bought some equipment that’s more expensive up front but costs less over its life.
With more funding, Teeter said they’d like to purchase a building to store vehicles that currently sit outside all the time.
"It's very hard to maintain those apparatus, keep them ready for use," Teeter said. "It requires a lot more staff time and effort than if they weren't just sitting inside a building."
Other items on the fire department’s wish list include an updated computer mapping system for dispatch and energy efficiency improvements for stations.
Chief Ray Driskell said even with those items, the focus will still be on staffing a new station in developing east Tulsa.
"If you put apartment complexes out there, at this point, obviously you've got more people there, but you've got the fire codes that have kept up with that to ensure safety of those folks," Driskell said. "Nevertheless, you're still going to have more dense population there for EMS calls."
The department’s number of medical and rescue calls has doubled over the last decade or so, as other categories stayed relatively flat.
