The Tulsa Police Department announced Monday it will open a new Downtown Patrol division, the city’s first new patrol division in 35 years, with coverage areas inside and around the Inner Dispersal Loop.
TPD officials said the goal is to improve response times and support the growing concentration of entertainment districts and high-volume call areas in downtown Tulsa.
“Our department’s current structure and divisional boundaries have struggled to keep up with the unique demands and the rapid growth of the popular venues downtown. So we’re restructuring our divisions, using the same number of patrol officers to meet the needs of the city. It’s been at least 15 years since we’ve reorganized our divisional boundaries, more than 35 years since we opened a new patrol division. This new division will provide relief department-wide with new beat boundaries for all four of our patrol divisions,” said Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen.
What the New Division Will Cover
The new division will patrol the Greenwood District, 23rd Street and Jackson Avenue, 18th Street and Boston Avenue, Cherry Street, the Pearl District, and Gathering Place. The department said officers will respond to calls both inside and outside the IDL. TPD said it expects the new division to open by the end of August.
The department is collecting officer input to determine the division’s official name.
For now, the Downtown Patrol division will operate out of the existing downtown Tulsa police building in the former Family Safety Center space.
Separately, TPD is preparing to relocate its headquarters to the former State Farm regional office at 12222 E. State Farm Blvd. in East Tulsa as part of a plan to create a consolidated Public Safety Center.
Cost overruns on the Tulsa Public Safety Complex are possibly $25 million over the original budget, with renovations in the final design phase one year after the city purchased the building.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newson6.com ’
