31 Fewer Tulsa Police Officers To Be Laid Off Friday

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Of the 155 Tulsa police officers that were expected to be laid off on Friday, 31 of those jobs have been saved. Now, 124 officers are expected to be laid off.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett has signed two Memorandums of Understanding for a savings of about $566,000, which will allow the city to retain 27 Tulsa police officers through the end of the year.

The two MOU's were from December and were in reference to the take home cars outside the city limits and the process in which police utilize compensatory time.

As first reported, the signing of the MOU's resulted in 22 saved jobs. As a result of savings, an additional five officer layoffs were rescinded due to the savings generated from the accrued vacation and compensatory time, the Tulsa Police Department reports. Due to four resignations from the police force Friday afternoon, four additional officers will return to the police force, which now rescinds a total of 31 layoff notices.

The officers affected have been notified and were told to report to their next regularly scheduled shift.

124 Tulsa police officers will be laid off Friday. Laid off officers turned in their equipment Friday morning.

The layoffs come after the police union voted Wednesday night to reject Mayor Dewey Bartlett's latest offer.

Ninety-one percent of the police union's membership voted no on the mayor's last offer, which included a 5.2% pay cut, furlough days, switching to eight hour shifts and working smaller beats.

1/28/2010  Related Story: Police Lay Off Hits Home For Tulsa Officers

Mayor Bartlett included the MOU's as part of his no-layoff proposal to the Fraternal Order of Police. If the proposal had been approved, the MOU's would have been in effect for 18 months. Now, the mayor's office reports the two MOU's will only be effective for the remainder of fiscal year 2010, which ends on June 30. 

Mayor Bartlett said he has asked Interim Chief Chuck Jordan to evaluate the specifics of the federal Justice Assistance Grant to recommend how the grant should be used. 

"I am glad we are able to rescind these layoffs based on these savings for the rest of the year. There certainly was an opportunity to save more jobs through our no-layoff proposal to the union," Bartlett said. "In the coming weeks, I look forward to meeting with officers face-to-face individually and in squad meetings to discuss current issues of the city and local law enforcement, to hear their ideas and also make our goals and objectives clear. I want to thank all members of the Tulsa police force for their dedication and top quality service to this community."