I sincerely hope..

[Teatownclown]

Jesus, you've got 23,270 freaking posts?

Christ Conan, you've never been thrown off and had to get a whole new identity?

GMEN=GOVERNMENT MEN

[dbacks fan]

Shhhh!  He's on a roll troll!

FIFY

[custosnox]

And the channel 8 report was so stupidly one sided on the reporting that I don't knew why they try to pass it off as journalism. This is turning into nothing more than a smear campaign against Blake, regardless if what actually occurred.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[Vashta Nerada]

And the channel 8 report was so stupidly one sided on the reporting that I don't knew why they try to pass it off as journalism. This is turning into nothing more than a smear campaign against Blake, regardless if what actually occurred.

There's only so many ways you can spruce up a PIO handout and make it look like fresh news.

[BKDotCom]

And the channel 8 report was so stupidly one sided on the reporting that I don't knew why they try to pass it off as journalism. This is turning into nothing more than a smear campaign against Blake, regardless if what actually occurred.

KTUL, we insinuate, you decide.

[DTowner]

There are so many things wrong with this it is hard to know where to begin.  But for starters, given the amount of money the city spends to train and equip police officers, why is the city using them to check stickers on the side of Frogger and Pac-Man?  Is TPD training really so extensive that every officer is well versed in the nuances of arcade game licensure (apparently not, according to Blake, since he believes most if not all of the citations are in error)?  If they are, perhaps that training money would have been better spent fighting the corruption problems that have plagued TPD over the past few years or in combating gangs that are a source for so much of our city's violent crime.

Tulsa's murders are way up so far in 2013, yet NINE TPD officers have time to "raid" a pizza parlor and check a city license that does not involve public safety in any remote way.  If the goal was to "stir up" some crirminals in the crowd, sending a platoon of cops to do food inspections at the Promenade Mall food court would likely have more of the desired effect.  Every day we read of stories of the past nights burglaries and home invasions.  Pawn shops are the integral cog in the property crime wheel – would the time of nine cops be better spent conducting "inspections" of the many pawn shops that traffic in stolen goods?  Wouldn't that be a good use of TPD resources that would actually help public safety?  Why are ABLE agents also involved in checking up on arcade games licenses?  Is Ms Pac-Man dispensing Jell-O shots out of the change return?  Are there really no bars/liquor stores out there known for selling to minors on which this use of agents' time would be better spent?

The local news stations are beholden to their TPD sources for tips and cannot be trusted to ask the obvious and glaring questions.  The Tulsa World gave good coverage to the TPD scandals.  Let's hope they start asking the needed questions about this matter.

[patric]

The degree of force involved is disproportionate, and according to the documents provided by the department, the reasoning for that was stated as the need to control "intoxicated" patrons.  This, along with the time of day they chose indicates that their primary purpose in this sweep was not to spend a bunch of taxpayer money writing up a handfull of piddly citations, but rather through that action, to alter the environment and capitalize on secondary situations.

Cops aren't stupid.  When 10 cops invade a busy nightclub or restaurant, an otherwise peaceful environment can change drastically.  People naturally become nervous for many reasons.  Is their a criminal on the loose?  Did someone get shot in the parking lot?  Was their a robbery?  That level of force naturally develops volatility among a crowd of otherwise peaceful individuals.  Police know this, they are trained on how to use "presence" to alter situations.

Sure, there may be 100 law abiding citizens who are only there to have a beer after work, but within that group their will also be a handfull who have had 10 beers, or just smoked a joint, or have a warrant for their arrest for not paying their parking tickets, or owe child support.  While 10 officers is a HUGE waste of manpower to enforce the Space Invaders tax, it is not an outrageous number to manage multiple foot chases.  The evening atmosphere at any bar becomes an opportunity to catch big fish while you pretend to troll for the small fry.

In my opinion, Blake and the other downtown establishments were part of a raid, that may or may not have produced the result that was hoped for.  It seems they were able to engage in a foot pursuit at 5th and Harvard.  I hope it was worth it, because as it stands, this seems like colossal waste of resources!

The officers broke off their "directed patrol" to join in on a car chase
http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialprojects/news/crimewatch/article.aspx?subjectid=450&articleid=20130201_450_0_Office297488
which is more exciting and looks better on an activity report.

...but in any case, it implies that we have either an excess of officers needing assignments, or poor management of those resources.
Funding another police academy would not make any sense at this point, unless there is a dramatic shift in policy and/or leadership.

When Street Crimes did nightly license checks, they created circumstances where legitimate business were made to suffer or close.  
Needless to say, Google, Verizon, etc. are not going to convince their Silicone Valley folks to move here and put up with that backwoods nonsense.

Some of the "secondary situations" Gaspar touched on involved officers asking grey-haired customers for their DL to "prove you are 21."

[heironymouspasparagus]

Who is the boss for the Chief of Police??  That is where the culture and tone is set.  Could it be the mayor??  Or is the police department just running loose with no direction?

[Hoss]

Who is the boss for the Chief of Police??  That is where the culture and tone is set.  Could it be the mayor??  Or is the police department just running loose with no direction?

If it's the mayor you might want to ask Chuck if his cell phone has caught fire recently.

[patric]

Who is the boss for the Chief of Police??  That is where the culture and tone is set.  Could it be the mayor??  Or is the police department just running loose with no direction?

The Mayor is not allowed to fire bad officers:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=011229_Ne_a21rulin

even for something like this:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=010324_Ne_a1focus

[JCnOwasso]

Compliance checks in the evening hours makes little to no sense.  If you are doing it at that hour, you are asking for problems.  Violations will be violations, even at 2:30 in the afternoon.  Furthermore, when was the last time this type of compliance check happened at any group of locations in Tulsa? 

It appears that Blake and Elliot ticked off ABLE and/or TPD.  Been ruffling a few feathers?

[Conan71]

The Mayor is not allowed to fire bad officers:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=011229_Ne_a21rulin

The offense:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=010324_Ne_a1focus

As I recall, didn't Mayor Taylor make chief of police an at-will rather than civil service-protected?

[nathanm]

Compliance checks in the evening hours makes little to no sense.

I don't think it's a bad time. As good as any, anyway. What's the point if they know that you're not coming between 4 and 9PM? The problem is that it was decided that ten freakin' officers had to be there! I think two would have been sufficient and four would have been good evidence of an abundance of caution bordering on a waste of scarce resources.

[Conan71]

I don't think it's a bad time. As good as any, anyway. What's the point if they know that you're not coming between 4 and 9PM? The problem is that it was decided that ten freakin' officers had to be there! I think two would have been sufficient and four would have been good evidence of an abundance of caution bordering on a waste of scarce resources.

It's a bad time if it completely disrupts your evening business when all they are supposedly checking is supposed to be game and/or bar licenses.

[nathanm]

It's a bad time if it completely disrupts your evening business when all they are supposedly checking is supposed to be game and/or bar licenses.

I doubt it would be unreasonably disruptive if only a couple of officers were sent in.