Tulsa Police Union To Vote On Either Pay Cut Or Layoffs Wednesday

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK – Tulsa's Police Union met Tuesday evening to discuss the city's latest offer.  Over a hundred of police officers attend the meeting at the end of which a 24-hour voting period commenced.

Captain Ryan Perkins said FOP members who attended the meeting were disheartened by the latest offer but said enough members were not at the meeting for it to be tough to know what the outcome of the vote will be.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett's latest plan includes eight more furlough days and a 5.2% salary cut for the next year and a half.

Latest Proposal:

• Avoids all police layoffs
• Grant money for personnel
• Schedule switch
• Smaller beats
• Keeps previous concessions

The plan involves no layoffs and would actually allow the department to hire back three officers who were laid off last fall.

The big change involves a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Tulsa Police Department would use every cent of it by Christmas and all of it goes to personnel.

Also, officers would switch from working four 10-hour shifts a week, to five 8-hours shifts.

They would work smaller beats, sometimes called community policing, as a way to save money.

All previous FOP concessions would remain in place.

Lawyers tell the FOP that if you add everything up it is around a 13% pay cut.

Officers say the choice between this offer and the 155 layoffs has left them torn.

Officer Jason Willingham, Tulsa Police, "Do you self preserve your way of living and your family, your friends and your home? The way you go about your business on a daily basis or do you look at the people that are going to be affected by layoffs? It's hard."

The union is expected to vote on the proposal Wednesday evening.