Police Lay Off Hits Home For Tulsa Officers

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- More than 150 Tulsa police officers will lose their jobs Friday.

The police union voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to reject Mayor Dewey Bartlett's latest offer.

Unless a last minute deal is reached, those officers will hand in their badges Friday.

The vote wasn't even close Wednesday.

91% 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.

The vote certainly sent a message, one the mayor says is selfish.

"To send a message, one that is predicated on causing heartache to 150 some odd families of their fellow police officers," Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said. "That's not a good result."

Officer Kelly Riley, Tulsa Police, "The closer we get, the closer it feels like it is setting in."

What had once seemed like an unlikely scenario will soon become a reality for officers like Kelly Riley.

He will be laid off Friday after five years on the force and says this last offer never had a chance.

"The proposal the mayor gave us. He knew it was doomed to fail but yet he blames us," Riley said.

For John Gillert, Friday will mark the end of a lifelong dream.

He gave up a successful engineering career to enter the Academy, and five years ago became an officer at the age of 41.

"One minute I'm ready to bawl and the next minute I pull myself together and I'm just mad," Gillert said.

That mix of anger and sadness will likely spill over into Friday, when TPD will be forced to say goodbye to more 150 of its members.

"I never in my wildest dreams, if you had told me one year ago that this was even possible, I had thought you were nuts," Gillert said.

We learned this afternoon that a judge has granted a temporary injunction for four of the officers slated to be laid off tomorrow.

The FOP's lawyer says because of their seniority, those officers should not be included with the others being let go.

Related Story 1/27/2010: POLL: Who Do You Think Is Responsible, Tulsa Mayor Or Police Union?