Some Laid Off Tulsa Officers Return To TPD - As Volunteers

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A glimmer of hope may exist for the 124 police officers laid off last Friday. Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett emailed the president of the police union, suggesting they meet.

That could happen at the first of next week. Until then, many of the laid off officers are selling their homes and scrambling to find work elsewhere.

What 79 of the 124 are doing, may surprise you. Those 79 officers turned in their gear last Friday, then came back on Monday and took the oath to become reserve police officers - so they are volunteering their time to the department for free.

When you walk into Tulsa's homicide unit and look to the left, you see Officers Jennifer Tate and Micheal Burgess working on cold cases, trying to generate leads for the families of the murdered. That might seem normal until you realize, both officers were laid off last Friday and no longer work for TPD.

"It was a no brainer for me, not even a question of do I want to do this or not. It's who I am. I can't imagine doing anything else," said Micheal Burgess, who was laid off last week.

"They can't take away the love I have for this job and the citizens and the city of Tulsa," said Jennifer Tate, also a laid off officer.

Jennifer Tate has been on the department three years full time and before that was a reserve officer for seven years. Micheal has been an officer for five years and before that, was a 911 dispatcher.

They say volunteering has helped during this transition time, but was hard at first.

"It was difficult working here the first day," Tate said. "Emotions are running high with everything going on, but as the day progressed and I got busy and involved with the cases, my worries were put to the side, and I was more focused on making something positive of this terrible situation."

Reserve officers are allowed to carry weapons, can make arrests and pretty much do what the paid officers do, it's just all volunteer and lots of citizens have also taken the training to be reserves

About the only difference is that reserve officers wear silver badges, and paid officers wear the gold.

"It doesn't matter whether I have a gold badge or silver badge, my professionalism can't be bought," said Micheal Burgess, a laid off officer.

"There's no paycheck behind it. I am the same officer I was before."

Both Jennifer and Micheal hope something can be worked out with the city so they and the others can get re-hired.

Many officers work part time jobs in their spare time to make extra money, and the many of the laid off officers lost those jobs too because they no longer had a patrol car or uniform.

The Tulsa city council voted Thursday to look into ways citizens can donate money to help pay some police salaries.