Getting Criminals And Guns Off Tulsa Streets

Operation Bullet Trap is what Tulsa Police came up, when newly elected Mayor Kathy Taylor asked them how to cut down on the city's recent upswing in violent crime. <br/><br/>The task force has been

Tuesday, May 2nd 2006, 10:46 am

By: News On 6

Operation Bullet Trap is what Tulsa Police came up, when newly elected Mayor Kathy Taylor asked them how to cut down on the city's recent upswing in violent crime.

The task force has been working for about a week and already netted a couple of big arrests.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright says police say when two girls got into a fight at a Tulsa apartment complex, one got her boyfriend, he showed up with a high-powered rifle and shot up the place, hitting the other girl in the leg.

It instantly became a top priority and police detectives gave information about the shooter, including his street name of Titan to the Bullet Trap task force and got an arrest.

Matthew Wilson is now in the Tulsa County jail on a complaint of shooting with intent to kill. Tulsa Police Sgt. Mike Huff: "They did an excellent job in finding this person that we couldn't find."

As in many cases, the arrest of Wilson, led the task force to someone else. In another case, Michael Goodrum. They confiscated his fully automatic Mac-90, a stolen rifle, other guns and a pound of marijuana.

Tulsa Police say this is their target group. Sgt Mike Huff: "These are people commiting violent crimes, involved in the drug trade, gangs, the emphasis is where it needs to be on the criminals."

The Bullet Trap task force is about 30 people who go out at night, looking for specific criminals after getting daily reports from the homicide squad. That 30 is made up of officers who used to be on the armed robbery task force, gangs officers, Tulsa County Sheriff's deputies and ATF agents.

Using a task force has been very successful in the past, but police say it's hard to maintain this kind of manpower on a long-term basis.Sgt Mike Huff: "When you only have a certain amount of manpower, you have to rob Peter to pay Paul and there are other assignments that are going untouched."

The Tulsa Police Department has not set an ending date for this task force.They plan to disband it once the violent crime seems to be dropping, however, they'll keep gathering crime information, so if the crime rate goes back up, they can re-instate the task force.

The task force has taken a dozen illegal weapons off the streets plus the street officers also receive the daily updates so everyone is on the same page, looking for the worst of the worst.