Tulsa Police can begin the process of civilianization.
"Everything I've heard from the police department is the only thing preventing them from doing it is having the funds available to do it," said Councilor G.T. Bynum.
Councilors' biggest addition to the city budget is money for TPD to start hiring civilians for certain jobs currently done by officers. Bynum had stern words about the funding.
"I think it needs to be very clear from this council to the police department that if we are appropriating funds for civilianization of those jobs and that does not happen, then there will be other issues to be dealt with besides just the fact that they've been wasting money since this has been identified," Bynum said.
Councilors estimate delaying the process for years has cost the city up to $3 million. Next year’s budget has $327,000 to begin the first phase of civilianization. Bynum said it’s unrealistic to tackle the whole process at once, which would cost nearly $1 million.
"I'm also cognizant of the fact that we have a public safety proposal being developed which could address a lot of this," Bynum said. "Regardless of that, we need to be on a path to address it."
The current cost of salary and benefits for the officers currently in the 17 identified positions, which range from researchers to a court liaison, is almost $1.5 million.
The plan is to hire civilians for those jobs and retain the officers for regular police work.
