Tulsa County DA Race Heats Up

The race for Tulsa County District Attorney gets ugly with dueling news conferences Friday. <br/><br/>Republican candidate Brett Swab called the first conference Friday morning to announce he's been

Friday, June 23rd 2006, 10:19 am

By: News On 6

The race for Tulsa County District Attorney gets ugly with dueling news conferences Friday.

Republican candidate Brett Swab called the first conference Friday morning to announce he's been endorsed by eight of the 9 Fraternal Orders of Police in Tulsa County.

He accused the current DA, Republican Tim Harris, of having poor communication, a lack of support for police officers and high turnover in his office. He also accused Harris of making bad policy changes.

He says Harris has made it more difficult for officers to get charges approved against violent criminals. "We have a prosecutor right now that has failed to prosecute criminals and he's repeatedly let child molesters, cases that need to go to trial go by the wayside."

Tim Harris called a news conference Friday afternoon to counter those accusations. He says the number of convictions his office has had against criminals shows they have good communication with officers.

He says the number of charges filed against people is not as important as the number of convictions they get against criminals. "We're about convictions because convictions keep people safe. Charges might make the labor unions feel good about themselves, but it doesn't do anything for public safety."

Since Harris has been the DA he claims to have an 84 percent conviction rate.