Tulsa County will find out whether private security firms can provide armed courthouse guards cheaper than the sheriff’s office can.
Bids for armed security services will be accepted until Jan 20. Sheriff Vic Regalado said he’ll probably look at outsourcing other auxiliary jobs deputies currently do, like being hospital guards.
"We would be able to redirect our resources that we currently have to give to those parts of the sheriff's office and put them to other places that we truly need them at," Regalado said.
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office will spell out the specifics for the bids. Regalado said he’d like to see what can be done at courthouse doors.
"That's really the biggest part of the security portion of the courthouse, because that's the entry and the exit and typically, if you're going to have problems, that's where it's going to occur," Regalado said. "Right now, it's my opinion that we are not adequately guarding those the way we should be."
Earlier this year, county commissioners approved a $10 fee on a range of civil court filings to pay for four armed deputies at courthouse entrances.
