Tulsa Police have lost some extra help in solving the city's violent crimes

Tulsa Police's homicide unit is 3 detectives short. The 3 detectives had been on loan from other police squads for the past 60 days, but now, time is up. <br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson

Wednesday, October 26th 2005, 10:01 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police's homicide unit is 3 detectives short. The 3 detectives had been on loan from other police squads for the past 60 days, but now, time is up.

News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson says in the past two months, the extra help made a big dent in investigating violent crimes.

The Tulsa Police Department realized the need for more detectives after two particularly deadly weekends this summer. Tulsa had 9 murders in 10 days. A few weeks later, the department approved adding three more detectives to the homicide unit.

In the past 60 days, the expanded homicide division solved two murders, and played a big role in investigating last month's triple murder in Owasso. They solved several carjackings, and chased down suspects who pointed a gun at an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper.

Now, even though crime hasnâ€™t slowed down, the unit is back to just 6 investigators. Tulsa Police Sgt Mike Huff: "Everybody just knows they're going to have to pull a bigger load, we're used to it. Nobody's whining or griping, but we really feel good about the service we gave the public during those 60 days."

The extra detectives also pursued more than 50 non-fatal cases that would not have gotten the same level of attention without the extra help. One of those was the attack on Lynn Scott, the woman who had acid thrown on her face. One of the detectives on loan did the legwork that led to two arrests in the case.

The homicide unit has asked that the 3 extra positions be made permanent, but hasn't heard if that will happen.