How Are Budget Cuts Impacting OKC Police Departments' Ability to Protect, Serve?

By Adrianna Iwasinski, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City has experienced a lot of growth in the past 20 years, but that is not the case for the Oklahoma City Police Department.

The force did experience an increase of 188 officers during the first 10 years (between 1990 and 2000). But the force has not had a significant increase over the past 10 years. There are less police positions now than there were 10 years ago.

Police Chief Bill Citty said budget cuts caused the department to lose an additional 15 positions this year, although they could have lost more than 40 positions had it not been for the MAPS 3 use tax. Those cuts that were made were in areas like drug education, drug enforcement, administration and supervisory positions in both the Jail and Narcotics divisions.

Though the chief said the cuts have not affected officers' ability to protect the public on high-priority calls, it has caused lower priority calls to suffer. What it means for the public is that they may have to wait for an officer to respond to a white collar crime request.

There are a total of 1,024 officers patrolling the 621 square miles of Oklahoma City, and a total of 266 civilians working for the department. They are all policing a population of more than half a million people.

Citty states there was a study done in 2008 that revealed there is a need for more police officers. That study suggested an ideal ratio of 2.2 officers for every 1,000 people in a city as large as Oklahoma City. Citty said OKC's ratio is actually 1.8 officers to every 1,000 people.

One of the things this affects is the police department's visibility in some areas. Citty said a high visibility has been shown to help deter crime, but with such a huge area and huge population to cover, that is hard for his department to do.

Chief Citty said their priority is saving lives and that has not changed.

More:

• Will Budget Cuts Impact Firefighters Abilities to Fight Wildfires?
• Are Budget Cuts Impacting OKC Fire Departments' Response Times?