Operation Alpha Targeted Most Violent Tulsa Criminals

A joint effort targeting violent criminals in east Tulsa just wrapped up with 174 felony arrests and 106 illegal guns taken off the streets.

Operation Alpha involved city, state and federal agencies and focused on the high crime area of 21st and Garnett.

Operation Alpha meant many long hours and long days of city officers and federal agents saturating Tulsa's highest crime area.

The 60-day plan was all about trying to make the streets and neighborhoods safer from criminals who like to use guns.

"We've got a lot of guns, and several burglaries and robberies and shootings out here, just had a shooting the other day," an officer said.

The money for all the manpower came from a grant through the state attorney general's office.

The agencies used crime mapping technology to pinpoint the area they wanted to saturate, and it happened to center around several low-end motels.

"And that’s gonna lead, of course, to not just safer streets but a community where we have safer schools, where parents don’t have to worry about their children playing in the streets because of stray gunfire. Where businesses can thrive because customers aren’t afraid to patronize those stores,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

In addition to the 174 felony arrests, they also served 124 felony warrants - 36 of those cases are now in the pipeline for the federal court system.

The agencies said the operation was so successful they are already planning another one soon.

"We're going to continue to identify hot spot areas where people are victims of violent crimes. We're not done yet,' Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said.

They said they targeted the alpha criminals because they're the ones who are the most aggressive, the ones causing the most trouble and the ones leading others into the criminal world.

They believe efforts like Operation Alpha are the reason we're at 19 homicides in Tulsa; we were above 40 this time 2017.

They said assaults are also down and other violent crimes are down 17 percent.