Tulsa Police robbery task force is making an impact

An early Wednesday morning police chase nets two serial armed robbery suspects. <br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Terry Hood says Tulsa Police have Prentiss Harris and Lesley Williams - both convicted felons

Wednesday, February 22nd 2006, 11:03 am

By: News On 6

An early Wednesday morning police chase nets two serial armed robbery suspects.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood says Tulsa Police have Prentiss Harris and Lesley Williams - both convicted felons - in custody. Police stopped them early Wednesday morning, the suspects then jumped out of their car and ran, but officers caught up with them.

The two suspects were being pursued by Tulsa's Armed Robbery Task Force, a special group of officers set aside to identify and capture suspects in our recent rash of armed robberies.

Williams and Harris are suspected of robbing three filling stations in just two days earlier this month. Robbery detectives say even these two arrests can make a big difference in the number of violent attacks. Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker: "I mean, once they get caught after three or four, like these two gentlemen were, then they can't hit 18, 20 times, and as we've seen in the past, a small group of people can really jump the rate up if they're continually hitting."

The armed robbery task force only started one week ago. Detective Walker says already, the team has made eight arrests, and confiscated four illegal guns.

And he says for the first time in a long time, the robbery rate is actually going down.