The Chief of Police supervises three deputy chiefs who are each in charge of a bureau. A bureau consist of three to four divisions. Each division is supervised by a major. The Chief of Police reports to the mayor. Tulsa Police Department
Tulsa Police department employs personnel from a diverse range of racial, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Proportionally, there is significantly greater representation of Caucasian, Native-American and male employees in the department compared with the general population of Tulsa.
Non-sworn Personnel
Staff generally require a GED or high school diploma. Specialized experience and training is also required for specific roles, such as administrative assistants.
Sworn-officers
are required to have at least a four-year bachelor's degree to apply, generally with a background in forensic science or criminal justice. TPD has no inbound transfer program for existing law enforcement officers so all candidates must complete a six-month training course at the Tulsa Police Academy regardless of previous law enforcement experience. In 2015 The department had 752 sworn-officers with an independent recommendation from Cincinnati University that the city hire an additional 206 officers because, for some time, "The police department is operating at a serious staffing deficiency." In order to meet federally recommended staffing levels to manage shift fatigue, it was recommended that the city should have 1,264 sworn-officers and should more than quadruple the number of civilian administrative staff in order to satisfy standard staffing practices. Funding has remained stagnant with funding levels for 2015 of US$96 million to the same total in 2018. As of 2019, there is a projection of 913 sworn officers and 50 administrative staff by the end of 2019 financial year. Despite the shortage of staff, off-duty sworn-officers of the TPD are highly sought after as private security guards within the region, servicing various businesses from municipal transport services, local hospitals and banks, to convenience stores such as QuikTrip. Many officers have been moonlighting for several decades due to the lucrative private security industry.
Chief of Police
Wendell Franklin was appointed police chief of the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma by Mayor G. T. Bynum On February 1st, 2020 following the retirement of the previous chief Chuck Jordan. Chief Franklin is the city's 40th police chief and the city's 1st African-American police chief. Chief Franklin has been with the department for 23 years and is known for his attempts to lower crime rate and increase community relations. Chief Franklin graduated the FBI National Academy in 2016 and returned to Tulsa.
In late 2011 four Tulsa police officers were convicted of stealing money from crime scenes and planting drugs at others. As a result of these actions, dozens of convictions had to be thrown out. The ringleader, Corporal Harold R. Wells, was sentenced to ten years in confinement. On 2012, when offered immunity, Wells testified drug arrests twenty years before were also tainted. In June 2020, during worldwide protests against the killing in Minneapolis of an unarmed black man, Major Travis Yates pointed out on a radio talk show that it was unreasonable to expect "... our shootings should be right along the U.S. Census lines." He noted that, "All of the research says we're shooting African-Americans about 24% less than we probably ought to be, based on the crimes being committed."
Tulsa Police Reserve
In 1953, the Civil Defense Volunteer Program was organized in the City of Tulsa as a division of the Tulsa City/County Civil Defense Administration. The organization was created initially and solely for training volunteers who could be deployed to provide needed aid, services, and support to the citizens of the city and county of Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the direction, coordination and control of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency. In 1976, the volunteer program expanded into an organization entitled the Tulsa Auxiliary Police. While retaining its original intended mission and objectives, it expanded to permit Tulsa Auxiliary Police Officers to do other functions where trained personnel could help law enforcement agencies in manning functions involving the public where there were not sufficient personnel available from professional law enforcement agencies. In 1995, the City of Tulsa established a new era of volunteer police officers. The Mayor of the City of Tulsa authorized the Chief of Police to appoint reserve municipal police officers as provided by state law. The Tulsa Auxiliary Police became the Tulsa Police Reserve.
Tulsa Police officers carry the Glock 22 Gen 4.40 S&Wsemi-automatichandgun. Officers were previously issued the Glock Model 22C Gen 3.40 S&W. In 2019, TPD began issuing officers Glock 17 Gen 5 9x19mm sidearms.
