As part of citywide budget cuts, three officers were recently laid off in Tulsa.
The problem is getting worse in Tulsa’s outlying communities, where more people are moving.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford looks at the ratio of officers to the population they are protecting.
In Tulsa there are 807 sworn police officers but 763 are available due to military leave.
That’s one officer for about every 500 people.
However, more people are moving out of Tulsa to live in its bedroom communities and those towns are growing.
It’s all about the economy. In Glenpool police say there’s not enough money to add more officers.
There are nearly 13,000 people that live in Glenpool and 18 sworn police officers, the ratio of officers per capita equals to about 722 officers per citizen.
Glenpool Police say it hasn’t been able to add an officer to the force in three years.
In Owasso, which is known to be one of the fastest growing communities in Oklahoma, people are getting hit hard.
According to FOX23 archives in *2002 Owasso had 18,000 people living there and 30 police officers.
In the last nine years another 17,000 people have moved to Owasso and now there are 48 sworn officers.
Although the Owasso Police force is increasing the ratio of officers per capita, it is not keeping up with the population.
In *2002 there was one officer for every 616 people but today it’s about 743.
In Rogers County, the largest sheriff’s jurisdiction for unincorporated areas in the state, the sheriff says he cannot afford more manpower.
Instead, Sheriff Scott Walton says he’s done what he can do to help fight crime. Rogers County Commissioners approved an additional $50,000 to for the sheriff’s fleet of squad cars and Walton says he’s restructured some positions and is using more part-time and 20 additional reserves.
"These are volunteers that come at no costs to the county so that will greatly compliment the amount of officers that we are able to put out here and cover special events," says Walton.
However, Walton says the challenges do not end there. The jail is at a maximum capacity, a new courthouse is possibly on the horizon and the county needs centralized dispatching.
"We would like to believe that the toughest times have already presented itself but we want to run our departments as if those tough times have not peeked at this time,” says Walton.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says in the last 15-20 years it has kept about about 850 troopers on the patrol.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, since 2000 Oklahoma’s population has increased 5.6%.
OHP says with a state budget crisis OHP has not furloughed any of its troopers or reduced patrols.
Meantime, the Skiatook police chief says the federal government has provided money for one of its current officers to work with the Tulsa County Drug Task Force.
So another officer will be joining the force in December, bringing the total number of sworn police officers in Skiatook from 18 to 19.
*Correction-FOX23 reported at 9pm Owasso Police had 30 officers in 2000. The correction has been made to report in 2002 there were 30 Owasso Police officers and there was one officer for 616 people in 2002.
