BAPD Considering Use Of Online Police Reports For Non-Emergencies

Most people call police after a break-in, but when it's not an emergency many local departments will direct you to fill out a police report online.

We wanted to know if that hurts your chances of getting your back belongings.

If it's a non-emergency burglary in Tulsa, you might be directed to an online form to fill out, you may never even seen an officer.

Other cities, like Broken Arrow, will send an officer, but the results aren't much different.

According to Corporal Leon Calhoun with Broken Arrow police, the department doesn’t take online burglary reports. He said they used to, but victims of assaults and violent crimes mistakenly reported their attacks through the online system, so the department shut it down.

Now, BA officers show up to just about every burglary call, take pictures and dust for prints, but BAPD is considering bringing online burglary reporting back.

"'Cause it does help,” Calhoun said. “It frees officers up to take calls in progress and more serious crimes, far as violent crimes, things like that."

With a strained budget, Calhoun said there's just not enough manpower to respond to every call - and most burglaries don't yield hard evidence.

"Typically, there's not a lot of evidence left behind in many of these types of property crimes," he said.

But online burglary reporting might not be bad.

FBI data shows Broken Arrow Police cleared 11 percent of the city's property crimes in 2014. The data also shows Tulsa Police, which takes burglary reports online, cleared 18 percent of Tulsa's property crimes in the same year - that matches the national average.

Tulsa Police has one officer for every 500 residents compared to Broken Arrow, which has one for every 800 – both admit they are understaffed.

10/6/2015 Related Story: Tulsa Police Department Severely Understaffed, Study Shows

Tulsa Police said what's helping them solve more property crimes, is more people having surveillance cameras.

A Tulsa property crimes detective said there are ten detectives in the division, but it would be better equipped with 20.