Increasingly, the actual probability of a TPD officer responding to your crime report is getting miniscule. Common theft reports are now apparently not responded to at all and the victims are advised to either file a report online or go to the nearest police station. In either case, in a few weeks you will get a letter from TPD telling you that the investigation is closed and you should simply suck it up. That's the cost of living in Tulsa.
But, today's experience was new low for me. Around 4:00 PM, I got a call from an old friend and occasional client. He is not a wealthy man. He makes his living selling fruit both wholesale and retail. At any given time, his whole business is contained in the big van that he works out of. Nearly in tears, my friend told me that his van had been stolen while he stepped inside a business to try to sell some fruit. I asked him where he was and he said Pine and Utica. I told him to call 911, sit tight and I would be there in ten minutes.
I got there in about ten minutes. My friend had called TPD several minutes before he called me. We sat in my car and waited. My friend told me that several police cars had already passed and that he had waved at them but they didn't stop. We continued sitting in my car and waiting. It was not a comfortable wait. My car looked really out of place in that part of the 'hood and we were attracting attention that made both of us uncomfortable despite the deeply tinted windows. A couple of hookers and local "street businessmen" passed close by to get a better look inside even though we were parked in the middle of a gravel parking lot. But, we continued to wait.
After about half an hour, I called TPD and asked when we could expect an officer. The dispatcher said that he could not tell us when TPD would get around to honoring us with their presence. I told the dispatcher something to the effect that we weren't sitting in the safest place in the world. He said that he just couldn't help. Several TPD cars and a Sheriff's unit passed by but didn't stop. After we had waited over an hour, my friend just gave in and said "take me home Bill. This is enough."
I can't describe to you the look on my friends face. Every nickle he had was tied up in that van, the load of fruit in it and the expensive tank of gas he had just bought. He was also headed out for the week and had personal possessions in the van. He even lost his new glasses. My friend had just lost just about everything he had and the Tulsa Police Department couldn't even be bothered to respond, take a report and put the description of the stolen vehicle on the air so that the law enforcement community could be looking for it.
A couple of hours later, I got a call from my friend. He had driven from his home to the nearest police station only to find that they had already closed for the day. He flagged an officer down in the parking lot who could not take his report. But at least that officer did contact someone who could and over two hours after the theft and my friend's DRIVING TO THE POLICE STATION AND BEGGING AN OFFICER IN THE PARKING LOT TO TAKE HIS CRIME REPORT, it was finally filed.
TPD's response to minor crime started lapsing years ago. When it did, we began losing neighborhoods to hoodlums who had a more or less free hand there. As the years passed, the severity of the crime TPD no longer bothered with increased. Now, apparently TPD is too busy to respond to major crimes like grand theft auto. It is past time for TPD 's leadership to change and along with it the department's whole attitude toward the city they serve. And, in case you think this is an isolated incident, read this blog entry from 2010 about TPD taking over an hour to respond to a hit and run accident my wife and I were involved in where I chased the perp down and pulled my car in front of his vehicle to keep him from driving away.
Confidence in a police department is built a call at a time. At this moment, I have no confidence that TPD would respond to my 911 call if my home was being broken into. They have a long way to go to earn back my trust and for that matter the trust of good people of North Tulsa. The bad people of North Tulsa already trust them .... NOT TO SHOW UP.
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