OKC Council Considers Plan To Hire More Police Officers

There is a push for more police officers on Oklahoma City streets.

The OKC City Council is now considering a plan to hire 18 additional police officers with a 1.3 million dollar surplus from the last fiscal year.

All summer the City Council has been trying to decide how best the spend the extra revenue.

This year, the Oklahoma City Police Department is already getting 12 patrol officers.

Chief Bill Citty says right now his department is way understaffed.

"Thirty is a start when you are talking about needing 200 to 250," said Chief Citty. "That's what we feel like we need."

The City Council is expected to vote on the additional officers in the next three weeks.

Chief Citty says his department would have to add 211 positions for OKC to have the same number of police officers in other cities its size.