Tulsa Mayoral Candidates Discuss Preserving Public Safety

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Preserving public safety promises to be a big issue when city of Tulsa voters head to the polls in less than two weeks. The three men vying for Tulsa's top job discussed their ideas for the city at a forum held at Clinton Middle School in West Tulsa Monday night.

The News On 6 asked the candidates about cutting police officers and what each of them would do to avoid it.

10/26/2009  Related story: Twenty-One Tulsa Police Officers Expect To Be Laid Off Today

All three candidates said they didn't want to decrease the number of cops on Tulsa streets. So instead of talking cuts, they wanted to talk savings.

Both Democrat Tom Adelson and Independent Mark Perkins talked about using the stimulus dollars meant to hire more police officers to keep the ones we already have.

Republican candidate Dewey Bartlett says we need to try to live within our means by making sure trained officers aren't doing clerical work, instead of police work.

"We should move those officers out of that position and get them back in the street where they can accomplish the job that they were trained to do. Consolidate that position with other clerical positions that are manned by civilians," said Dewey Bartlett, (R) Mayoral candidate.

"I did not get the impression that there were officers doing clerical work. I understand that last year's audit did find a couple of instances of that, but I did get the impression that every officer that is available is on the streets providing security," said Tom Adelson, (D) Mayoral candidate.

"These are difficult times. And I think our real option is to adapt the funding and still be able to use that to our benefit and address our public safety needs and maintain current levels," said Mark Perkins, (I) Mayoral candidate.

Both Adelson and Bartlett talked about auditing TPD's use of energy to try to save money.

10/22/2009  Related Story: Tulsa Mayoral Candidates Talk About Small Businesses