Oklahoma Lawmaker: Troopers Must Patrol State Highways under Law

What to know

Oklahoma state Sen. Mark Mann argues that state law mandates the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) must patrol all interstate highways, challenging a plan to shift that duty to local police in metro areas starting in November.
Lawmakers and law enforcement officials have expressed concern over the strain the move will put on local departments and question the data used to justify the trooper withdrawal.
Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton cites trooper shortages as the reason for reallocating resources, but critics say the legislature should have been consulted before such a major change.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — A review of state statutes has convinced an Oklahoma City lawmaker that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol is bound by law to patrol all interstate highways in the state, including in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metro areas.

Sen. Mark Mann, D- Oklahoma City, asked Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to weigh in on whether it would be legal for Department of Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton to follow through with a plan announced recently to pull state troopers from routine patrol duties on interstate highways in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas beginning in November.

Mann’s legislative district would be affected, as Tipton said local police departments in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas would pick up the responsibility for patrolling stretches of interstates within their municipalities.

After doing some research of Oklahoma Statutes Title 47 addressing motor vehicles, Mann said he believes that the law is clear, as it states: “The Oklahoma Highway Patrol Division shall have primary law enforcement authority respecting traffic-related offenses upon the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”

The word “shall” is important, Mann said, as it should leave no room for misinterpreting that the OHP has a responsibility when it comes to patrolling interstates. He said that in his mind that should be non-negotiable and that the attorney general should decide that Tipton can’t decide “arbitrarily” what portions of interstate highways troopers will and won’t patrol.

“I feel somewhat confident that when they do issue an opinion it will resolve this,” he said.

Mann said he has heard from officials in Oklahoma City metro area police departments who were upset by the plan. He said he has heard, too, from individual OHP troopers who were not happy with it.

Rep. Ross Ford, R- Broken Arrow, said he can certainly identify with the law enforcement concerns. A former longtime Tulsa police officer, he said he also questioned the data Tipton used to justify his decision.

At a recent press conference, the public safety commissioner said that after Nov. 1 the Tulsa Police Department would have to pick up coverage of 24 miles of Interstate 44; 15 miles of I-244; and three miles of I-444, the eastern and southern legs of the Inner Dispersal Loop. He said that on any given day officers might expect to have to respond to “a little over one” call for service on stretches of Interstates 44, 244 and 444 running through Tulsa.

Ford said it was hard for him to believe that troopers have responded to an average of only one accident per day on all those miles of highway.

The Tulsa World is awaiting a response from DPS for more details on the data.

Both Mann and Ford pointed out that troopers do much more than just respond to wrecks. They also monitor for speeders and reckless drivers, among other things.

Ford said he has no doubt that the Tulsa Police Department is already stretched thin, and he fears that if it has to devote resources to routine patrols of interstates, that might jeopardize officer safety, as officers would be more likely to be forced to respond to calls within the city without backup.

“Officers can make a broken system work. Throw us into a broken system, like this one would be, and the men and women will make it work just because that’s what we do. We won’t let the citizens down,” Ford said. “But on priority calls an officer might respond without backup, and that’s when you have a tragedy happen, and that’s what worries me. The main thing is, when you pull officers off, you’re leaving the city vulnerable to other problems.”

At his press conference, Tipton said the interstate highway system statewide has gotten so busy in recent years that a transition of resources was necessary to help ensure public safety outside the two metro areas. He expressed confidence that the Tulsa Police Department and Oklahoma City metro-area departments would be able to handle the increased responsibilities.

Tipton said the OHP has 589 personnel at the “trooper level” to do routine patrols of highways, including state turnpikes, which would not be affected by the transition plan. The OHP includes some 734 personnel in all. He said the department would have to grow to about 1,100 personnel to continue to provide support for public safety in all corners of the state.

Mann said that if troopers are truly stretched so thin, Tipton should have made it known to the Legislature well before making his decision to end routine OHP patrols on metro interstates. Lawmakers might have responded with some additional funding or found some other way to intervene, he said.

Both Mann and Ford said lawmakers likely will be interested in reviewing the situation at DPS in the coming year. Ford said he has considered offering legislation to reorganize state agencies and perhaps make the OHP independent.

“I’m not talking about growing government — just dividing resources more efficiently or rearranging organizations to have them work better,” he said. “We all agree we need more Highway Patrol troopers. It’s just how do we get to that number.”

------------

Visit www.tulsaworld.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.