Texans in Tulsa on recruiting trip for officers

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February 9, 2010

Anonymous From The Associated Press The Enid News and Eagle Tue Feb 09, 2010, 10:10 AM CST

TULSA, Okla. — Five Texas law enforcement agencies have sent recruiters to Tulsa where they met with both recently laid off and current Tulsa police officers.

Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 President Phil Evans said at least 75 current and former officers met Monday with the recruiters from the Arlington, Garland, Mesquite and Plano police departments and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The city has laid off 127 officers since fall because of budget cuts due to a shortfall in revenue collections.

“In general, they are all starting these officers out about $10,000 more than us,” Evans said. “Our loss is their gain.”

Evans estimated that about 15 to 20 of those who attended the recruitment drive are currently employed by the Tulsa Police Department, while the rest were among 127 officers laid off.

Many officers have started looking at other places because they feel that their employment here is no longer stable, he said.

“They feel that once the layoffs started, they will never end,” Evans said. “They don’t think that Tulsa puts enough priority on public safety and see that other people are interested in the quality officers that we produce here in Tulsa.”

Cpl. Gene Watkins, who has been on the Tulsa police force for 19 years, said he is now looking at other employment options. He went to the job fair to learn about the agencies that are recruiting and placed an application with the Garland Police Department.

“They would basically start me as a topped-out officer making more than what I am making as a topped-out supervisor,” Watkins said.

Some of the departments that are recruiting have age limits in the mid-40s, so Watkins, 43, knows he needs to act now if he is going to be hired somewhere else.

Recruiters from many law enforcement agencies contacted the Tulsa Police Department after they heard about the layoffs. At least two more agencies were supposed to be represented at the recruitment drive Monday, but Evans said they likely did not come because of the weather.

“They are pretty impressed,” he said of the other agencies. “We have a nationwide reputation of producing good police officers.”

In other developments, FOP leaders and Mayor Dewey Bartlett and his staff plan to meet Tuesday to see if they can reach an agreement that would bring back the laid-off police officers and begin negotiations on next fiscal year’s contract.

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Texans in Tulsa on recruiting trip for officers

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