OKC Police Chief Wants To Hire 40 More Officers

The Oklahoma City Police Chief presents his plan to cut down on crime and make Oklahoma City safer.

Tuesday, Chief Bill Citty told the Oklahoma City Council he wants to hire 40 more police officers during his budget presentation.

Chief Citty says right now, his department has 91 current vacancies. Due to hiring freezes in the past, Chief Citty says his department is “behind the curve” when it comes to officer numbers.

“If they give us the 40 officers, Then it’ll probably be November of 2015 before we get them on the ground,” Chief Bill Citty said.

Right now, they are just under 1100 officers.

However, Citty says in the meantime, the funding for those additional officers can pay for overtime for current officers to patrol more neighborhoods.