OKLAHOMA CITY, (KTUL) — The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has announced that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol will cease law enforcement services in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties starting November 1.
This decision will leave local law enforcement agencies to cover in-state highways, a move that has sparked concern among some legislative officials.
Senator Mark Mann expressed deep concern over the decision, arguing that it shifts responsibilities to local police and sheriff’s departments that are already overburdened and under-resourced.
“There was no major push last year from the Department of Public Safety that they needed more money for the Highway Patrol,” Mann said. “It’s a little shocking that just, you know, less than two months after sessions are over, they’re saying that they have coverage issues that need to pull out of the two largest metros in the state.”
Mann pointed to state law, specifically Title 47 of the Oklahoma Statutes, which states that the Commissioner of Public Safety and designated officers, like the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, have primary law enforcement responsibilities on all highways in the national system of interstate and defense highways within Oklahoma’s borders.
“I think the statute is very clear that they have primary responsibility,” Mann said. “I’m not an attorney, but as I read the statute, it’s very clear to me that the primary responsible party in terms of enforcement of laws and traffic laws on the interstate highway system is the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.”
Mann also noted that he has received overwhelming feedback from local law enforcement, concerned that if this change takes effect, it will put even more strain on police departments already dealing with staffing and resource shortages.
“They’re going to have to do the enforcement and respond to accidents and wrecks on the interstates, which they have not had to do before,” Mann said. “They have been primarily focused on neighborhood streets, city streets, and they’re already in both of those places. I mean, they can use more resources. They can use more manpower, so it just really spreads them thin, and it’s just not right to the citizens of Oklahoma County, in Tulsa County, that you would pull OHP off the roads.”
Senator Mann expressed confidence that the Attorney General will review the law and provide Oklahomans with clarity and a proper response to this decision.
