'Good Thing For Everybody': Tulsa Police Increase Patrols Downtown For Summer

The Tulsa Police Department is stepping up patrols around downtown this summer.

Police say they want to get ahead of crime moving into the summer, as well as build community relationships.

Tulsa Police say crime never stops and it always picks up in the summertime.

"Summer is always our busy time. Just in policing in general. Generally, the nicer it is outside, the more people that are out. The more people that are out, the more crime there is, unfortunately," Tulsa Police Captain Billy White said.

In an effort to crack down on crime, White says the department plans to increase the number of officers patrolling the downtown area.

"For people to bring their families downtown and see police cars in the area patrolling actively, preventing crime out there, I think is a good thing for everybody," White said.

The department won't be alone in its effort to keep downtown safe. Officers will partner with area businesses, together keeping an eye out for criminals and organizing community meetings.

"We're partnering with QuikTrip, City of Tulsa Security, we're finding out who our repeat offenders are, the DAs office, the City Prosecutor's Office, because a lot of that stuff is logged, and the information is there. We just need to go through," White said.

But it's not all about putting people in handcuffs. The department says it wants to help connect people with resources they need before they end up in the back of a police car.

"A lot of it's not enforcement. It's, 'Hey, it's really hot out. Here's some water. Are you okay,' and then 'man, can we get you into some sort of plan for housing,' because that's where a lot of these people, if we can get them into housing, we can get them off of the streets and then they're not in the crime element," White said.

White says the department will soon have a Downtown Corridor Facebook page where businesses can share information between each other as well as police.