July 21, 2010 Tulsa school cops get authority to write tickets www.privateofficer.com
Tulsa Okl July 21 2010 The odds of getting a ticket for speeding in a Tulsa school zone just went up.
Tulsa Public Schools campus police officers will now have the authority to issue traffic citations on the streets, roads, alleys and properties adjacent to schools.
The Tulsa school board approved an amendment to its memorandum of understanding with the city of Tulsa on Monday evening.
“It’s a great change, but it’s going to be a busy change for us,” Dwight Jackson, assistant chief of the TPS Campus Police Department, told the Tulsa World.
According to the school district, the intent is to “provide a higher level of safety for students when walking or driving to and from school.”
Tulsa Public Schools has 20 commissioned police officers and 14 marked and four unmarked police vehicles, said Tami Marler, a district spokeswoman.
Tulsa Police Officer Jason Willingham said agreeing to sharing jurisdiction for traffic enforcement was a no-brainer.
“The only argument against it was giving up territory, but we’re all about what makes the community safer — especially when you’re talking about protecting the little ones that can’t look out for themselves,” Willingham said.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett said any proceeds from tickets written by TPS campus police officers will go into city coffers.
“The Tulsa Police Department is suppling the actual, physical tickets. Any ticketing that goes on by the Tulsa Public Schools security force will be a municipal offense,” Bartlettsaid.
“Any item they ticket or charge will go to municipal court, so the city of Tulsa gets the money. It’s a very smart thing that we’ve done.
“This will provide us another source of revenue, which is also good.”
Superintendent Keith Ballard said he discussed allowing campus police to patrol school zones with city leaders when they were considering cutting city funds for school crossing guards.
The program ended up being reduced to 66 crossing guard positions from 96
Source: Tulsa World
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