I sincerely hope..

[Hoss]

..that this is a case of the police bullying a popular entrepreneur.

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/records-detail-confrentation-between-tpd--councilor

[RecycleMichael]

Ten cops come in during the busy dinner hour to write tickets for not having stamps on the pinball, Pacman and skeeball games?

Seems like overkill. I would be upset as well. Wouldn't a more reasonable approach be to have two or three officers swing by during a slow time? It is not like they can't find the owner.

The Tulsa Police Department has been rocked by scandal after scandal and now they go and try and intimidate a small businessman?

For them to claim that Blake tried to intimidate them seems almost laughable.

[Breadburner]

Trust me....Its not.... I was wondering when this would surface.....

[custosnox]

Trust me....Its not.... I was wondering when this would surface.....

It's not a case of the police bullying an entrepreneur?  I find something fishy about all of this when you have multiple officers making an appearance for something as simple as game licenses.

[JoeMommaBlake]

It is. I never objected to the tickets (even though most of them have proven to be invalid). I asked them to write them to me and not my staff. They wouldn't.

I never threatened them. I certainly never tried to intimidate them. We have the whole thing recorded.

I furnished that recording to KJRH. They chose to represent the story very differently, despite having the entire recording.

I told the police that I felt like it was an unnecessary show of force to park five police cars out front of our businesses and enter the restaurants (full of families, mind you) with nine officers (two ABLE) in intimidating fashion in the peak of Thursday night dinner to inspect my arcade game licenses. It was wasteful and over the top. There was no threat to them. They didn't need that manpower at Joe Momma's or El Guapos. The stand-alone bars weren't busy and also didn't need the numbers they brought or the intimidating posture. There was no judgment used. It was aggressive and embarrassing.

They could have come by in the afternoon with far fewer officers to check compliance.
They could have sent two officers in and had the others wait outside to be called on in case there was trouble.
They could have written tickets at one establishment with common ownership and moved on.

Instead, this raid was mysteriously conducted at the one time of the week when I have a very public appointment (6:00 Thursday night City Council Meetings). It was done in an embarrassing way, so as to confuse and frighten my guests. If nothing else, the large show of force caused conjecture about my businesses (and Elliot's) and the kind of activity we conduct.

One might never guess, for example, that nine officers would be necessary for a compliance check. Guests might (and did) assume that they were in danger or that serious crimes were being committed.

The Brady District was not checked. Cherry St. wasn't checked. 18th and Boston wasn't checked. Brookside wasn't checked.
One might find it curious that The Blue Dome District was, but that none of the other local districts were checked.

Further, the way this was represented by the police is downright offensive. I've never abused my authority as a Councilor and to insinuate that I would do it here (to get out of buying $30 video game licenses?) is ridiculous.

I was attempting to protect my staff that night by asking that the tickets be written to me and I was attempting to communicate to the Sgt. that I felt like this show was embarrassing and unnecessary. In light of the very stressful month of crime that we've had in Tulsa, the citizens don't want to see Gilcrease Division (north Tulsa) beat officers camped out in The Blue Dome District for 3 hours writing tickets to Elliot Nelson and me for not having the right stickers on our arcade games. They want to see intentional patrol of high crime areas and efficient use of manpower. People already feel like the police aren't responsive enough to real and threatening needs. This dog and pony show sure doesn't help.

This whole thing was stupid. I called them out on it. They didn't like it. They leaked the story to Casey Roebuck. KJRH knew there was no real story here, so they painted this in a terrible way to make a headline and get a scoop. I'm sure the on air talent at KJRH had nothing to do with it, especially the one married to a TPD chief. The whole thing stinks. It is what you think it is - the worst kind of "journalism".

Hopefully, some good can come out of this. Sadly, today, it feels like this story is going to be told in the way the scandal loving public like the most....and our TPD is going to keep conducting foolish raids of local restaurants in the most embarrassing way possible. They have no clue how bad this makes them look to a very skeptical citizenry.

The crazy thing is that I actually had a pretty productive conversation with the Sgt that night and had already arranged a meeting with Elliot Nelson and Chief Jordan to discuss how we conduct compliance checks more efficiently and in a more business friendly way in the future. That's not juicy though. Better to make it look like I had a fight with TPD (which didn't happen) and threatened them (which didn't happen) and tried to use my position to get out of something (which definitely didn't happen).

Thanks.

[Red Arrow]

It is. I never objected to the tickets (even though most of them have proven to be invalid). I asked them to write them to me and not my staff. They wouldn't.

I never threatened them. I certainly never tried to intimidate them. We have the whole thing recorded.

I furnished that recording to KJRH. They chose to represent the story very differently, despite having the entire recording.

I told the police that I felt like it was an unnecessary show of force to park five police cars out front of our businesses and enter the restaurants (full of families, mind you) with nine officers (two ABLE) in intimidating fashion in the peak of Thursday night dinner to inspect my arcade game licenses. It was wasteful and over the top. There was no threat to them. They didn't need that manpower at Joe Momma's or El Guapos. The stand-alone bars weren't busy and also didn't need the numbers they brought or the intimidating posture. There was no judgment used. It was aggressive and embarrassing.

They could have come by in the afternoon with far fewer officers to check compliance.
They could have sent two officers in and had the others wait outside to be called on in case there was trouble.
They could have written tickets at one establishment with common ownership and moved on.

Instead, this raid was mysteriously conducted at the one time of the week when I have a very public appointment (6:00 Thursday night City Council Meetings). It was done in an embarrassing way, so as to confuse and frighten my guests. If nothing else, the large show of force caused conjecture about my businesses (and Elliot's) and the kind of activity we conduct.

One might never guess, for example, that nine officers would be necessary for a compliance check. Guests might (and did) assume that they were in danger or that serious crimes were being committed.

The Brady District was not checked. Cherry St. wasn't checked. 18th and Boston wasn't checked. Brookside wasn't checked.
One might find it curious that The Blue Dome District was, but that none of the other local districts were checked.

Further, the way this was represented by the police is downright offensive. I've never abused my authority as a Councilor and to insinuate that I would do it here (to get out of buying $30 video game licenses?) is ridiculous.

I was attempting to protect my staff that night by asking that the tickets be written to me and I was attempting to communicate to the Sgt. that I felt like this show was embarrassing and unnecessary. In light of the very stressful month of crime that we've had in Tulsa, the citizens don't want to see Gilcrease Division (north Tulsa) beat officers camped out in The Blue Dome District for 3 hours writing tickets to Elliot Nelson and me for not having the right stickers on our arcade games. They want to see intentional patrol of high crime areas and efficient use of manpower. People already feel like the police aren't responsive enough to real and threatening needs. This dog and pony show sure doesn't help.

This whole thing was stupid. I called them out on it. They didn't like it. They leaked the story to Casey Roebuck. KJRH knew there was no real story here, so they painted this in a terrible way to make a headline and get a scoop. I'm sure the on air talent at KJRH had nothing to do with it, especially the one married to a TPD chief. The whole thing stinks. It is what you think it is - the worst kind of "journalism".

Hopefully, some good can come out of this. Sadly, today, it feels like this story is going to be told in the way the scandal loving public like the most....and our TPD is going to keep conducting foolish raids of local restaurants in the most embarrassing way possible. They have no clue how bad this makes them look to a very skeptical citizenry.

The crazy thing is that I actually had a pretty productive conversation with the Sgt that night and had already arranged a meeting with Elliot Nelson and Chief Jordan to discuss how we conduct compliance checks more efficiently and in a more business friendly way in the future. That's not juicy though. Better to make it look like I had a fight with TPD (which didn't happen) and threatened them (which didn't happen) and tried to use my position to get out of something (which definitely didn't happen).

Thanks.

You have my sympathy but welcome to the big city.

[patric]

Ten cops come in during the busy dinner hour to write tickets for not having stamps on the pinball, Pacman and skeeball games?
Seems like overkill. I would be upset as well. Wouldn't a more reasonable approach be to have two or three officers swing by during a slow time? It is not like they can't find the owner.
The Tulsa Police Department has been rocked by scandal after scandal and now they go and try and intimidate a small businessman?

Blake may have made the mistake of pitching the story to a reporter more concerned with protecting ride-along privileges for high-profile busts, than being a detached journalist.  That's why you should cast the net wider and include print media and YouTube.

EDITED TO ADD:  I stand corrected, it wasnt Blake who initially contacted the media.

[guido911]

It is. I never objected to the tickets (even though most of them have proven to be invalid). I asked them to write them to me and not my staff. They wouldn't.

I never threatened them. I certainly never tried to intimidate them. We have the whole thing recorded.

I furnished that recording to KJRH. They chose to represent the story very differently, despite having the entire recording.

I told the police that I felt like it was an unnecessary show of force to park five police cars out front of our businesses and enter the restaurants (full of families, mind you) with nine officers (two ABLE) in intimidating fashion in the peak of Thursday night dinner to inspect my arcade game licenses. It was wasteful and over the top. There was no threat to them. They didn't need that manpower at Joe Momma's or El Guapos. The stand-alone bars weren't busy and also didn't need the numbers they brought or the intimidating posture. There was no judgment used. It was aggressive and embarrassing.

They could have come by in the afternoon with far fewer officers to check compliance.
They could have sent two officers in and had the others wait outside to be called on in case there was trouble.
They could have written tickets at one establishment with common ownership and moved on.

Instead, this raid was mysteriously conducted at the one time of the week when I have a very public appointment (6:00 Thursday night City Council Meetings). It was done in an embarrassing way, so as to confuse and frighten my guests. If nothing else, the large show of force caused conjecture about my businesses (and Elliot's) and the kind of activity we conduct.

One might never guess, for example, that nine officers would be necessary for a compliance check. Guests might (and did) assume that they were in danger or that serious crimes were being committed.

The Brady District was not checked. Cherry St. wasn't checked. 18th and Boston wasn't checked. Brookside wasn't checked.
One might find it curious that The Blue Dome District was, but that none of the other local districts were checked.

Further, the way this was represented by the police is downright offensive. I've never abused my authority as a Councilor and to insinuate that I would do it here (to get out of buying $30 video game licenses?) is ridiculous.

I was attempting to protect my staff that night by asking that the tickets be written to me and I was attempting to communicate to the Sgt. that I felt like this show was embarrassing and unnecessary. In light of the very stressful month of crime that we've had in Tulsa, the citizens don't want to see Gilcrease Division (north Tulsa) beat officers camped out in The Blue Dome District for 3 hours writing tickets to Elliot Nelson and me for not having the right stickers on our arcade games. They want to see intentional patrol of high crime areas and efficient use of manpower. People already feel like the police aren't responsive enough to real and threatening needs. This dog and pony show sure doesn't help.

This whole thing was stupid. I called them out on it. They didn't like it. They leaked the story to Casey Roebuck. KJRH knew there was no real story here, so they painted this in a terrible way to make a headline and get a scoop. I'm sure the on air talent at KJRH had nothing to do with it, especially the one married to a TPD chief. The whole thing stinks. It is what you think it is - the worst kind of "journalism".

Hopefully, some good can come out of this. Sadly, today, it feels like this story is going to be told in the way the scandal loving public like the most....and our TPD is going to keep conducting foolish raids of local restaurants in the most embarrassing way possible. They have no clue how bad this makes them look to a very skeptical citizenry.

The crazy thing is that I actually had a pretty productive conversation with the Sgt that night and had already arranged a meeting with Elliot Nelson and Chief Jordan to discuss how we conduct compliance checks more efficiently and in a more business friendly way in the future. That's not juicy though. Better to make it look like I had a fight with TPD (which didn't happen) and threatened them (which didn't happen) and tried to use my position to get out of something (which definitely didn't happen).

Thanks.

I mean, I want to believe you. But I sure could use an incinerator to help the process.

[TheArtist]

Definitely wasteful overkill and "business and public" unfriendly.  And the actions were even more egregious if what Jordan said was true that... "the compliance checks at the city councilor's businesses were no different than those conducted at more than 30 other Tulsa establishments in recent months."  which means this wasn't the only example of waste, overkill, and inappropriateness.  I agree that all city ordinances and such should be enforced, but why he would admit that he does so, so often, in such a wasteful and disturbing manner I do not know.  

[cannon_fodder]

Ten officers, 30 "raids" at 1 hour each = 300 man hours.  Assume each venue has 5 machines on average and all were out of compliance (30*5*30) the city raised $450 in revenue. 

Assume each officer costs the city $100,000 a year (salary, tax, workers comp, health insurance, training, equipment... $100k is conservative) and works a full 2000 hours (probably inflated hours).  The cost is $50 per officer per hour, at the lowest.  So the cost of a one hour raid with 10 officers would be $5000.  The cost of 30 such raids would be $150000.

$150,000 spent. $450 in video machine tax stamps collected.

Enforcement is not always about economics.  Sometimes it is about safety.  Sometimes public welfare.  Sometimes it is to send a message that there is a police presence. 

Hard to figure out the purpose of this.

Can I have $150000 in city funds?  For $150k I can hire a full time "City of Tulsa video game tax stamp verification specialist" and pay him $40k, pocket $40k for myself, and donate $70k to the Blake Ewing "please keep running even though the job sucks" fund.

[Conan71]

Safe to assume none of Ewing's enterprises will be advertising on KJRH any time soon?

[patric]

I agree that all city ordinances and such should be enforced, but why he would admit that he does so, so often, in such a wasteful and disturbing manner I do not know.  

Remember who deployed the helicopter and scores of uniforms for non-violent protesters "trespassing" in a park after 11. 
Cities that did much less were sued for much more.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/26/161839245/uc-oks-1-million-settlement-in-pepper-spray-suit

Years ago, the "Street Crimes" (vice squad) would repeatedly do "compliance checks" on the same bars, almost every night near TU, until someone finally did some re-assignments.  A few TNF members saw that firsthand, if I recall.

[BKDotCom]

Ten officers, 30 "raids" at 1 hour each = 300 man hours.  Assume each venue has 5 machines on average and all were out of compliance (30*5*30) the city raised $450 in revenue.  

Assume each officer costs the city $100,000 a year (salary, tax, workers comp, health insurance, training, equipment... $100k is conservative) and works a full 2000 hours (probably inflated hours).  The cost is $50 per officer per hour, at the lowest.  So the cost of a one hour raid with 10 officers would be $5000.  The cost of 30 such raids would be $150000.

$150,000 spent. $450 in video machine tax stamps collected.

Enforcement is not always about economics.  Sometimes it is about safety.  Sometimes public welfare.  Sometimes it is to send a message that there is a police presence.  

Hard to figure out the purpose of this.

Can I have $150000 in city funds?  For $150k I can hire a full time "City of Tulsa video game tax stamp verification specialist" and pay him $40k, pocket $40k for myself, and donate $70k to the Blake Ewing "please keep running even though the job sucks" fund.

+1

And why are they referring to this as a "raid"?

Raid - noun - a sudden assault or attack, as upon something to be seized or suppressed: a police raid on a gambling ring.

Does the health department send out 9 food-safety inspectors on a health inspection raid?
Does the fire department send out 9 fire-fighters on fire-code inspection raids?

Is Blake running some sort of shady pinball speakeasy?

[Teatownclown]

I love more proof for what I already had suspected about this guy....

[patric]

+1

And why are they referring to this as a "raid"?

Raid - noun - a sudden assault or attack, as upon something to be seized or suppressed: a police raid on a gambling ring.

Does the health department send out 9 food-safety inspectors on a health inspection raid?
Does the fire department send out 9 fire-fighters on fire-code inspection raids?

Is Blake running some sort of shady pinball speakeasy?

Well, if the insurance commissioner now needs SWAT-equipped agents to inspect a business's paperwork...