Police Cuts Spark Debate Over Safety

It has become a recession mantra: Do more with less.

Now, a heartland city is testing whether that's possible when it comes to public safety.

Since January, Tulsa, Oklahoma has laid off 89 police officers, 11% of its force. That has pushed the city to the forefront of a national movement, spurred by hard times, to revamp long-held policing strategies.

In the crosshairs: community-policing initiatives created over the past two decades, such as having officers work in troubled schools, attend neighborhood-watch meetings and help small-business owners address nuisance crimes like graffiti. Such efforts are popular, and some experts credit them with contributing to the steady drop in the national crime rate since 1991.

But after years of expanding and taking on new duties, police chiefs say they have little choice but to retrench.

"Departments are pulling back to their Alamo—providing patrols and responding to calls for service," says Jason Stamps, director of professional training at the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety.

Cuts have swept communities from Stockton, Calif., to Naperville, Ill., depleting some departments to 1980s-era staff levels.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently vowed not to lay off cops, but tight budgets have slowed hiring so much that the force is down about 12% from 2000, with more attrition expected. Some violent crimes, including homicides, are on the rise. Paul Browne, a deputy police commissioner, says the department has kept a lid on problems by flooding high-crime areas with cops on foot patrol who practice community policing, such as checking in with merchants and pastors. Mr. Browne said the department is committed to such programs but acknowledges that "it's getting harder" to devote enough resources.

The strain in New York and communities nationwide reminds William Bratton, former police chief in New York and Los Angeles, of the 1970s and 1980s. Then, departments lacked resources to focus on crime prevention and community partnerships, or deal with crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution.

"You'd think we would have learned our lessons from the past," says Mr. Bratton, who now runs Altegrity Security Consulting. "Policing still requires boots on the ground."

Citizens and officers in Tulsa are finding out together what fewer cops means.

The police have curtailed community outreach, investigations, undercover work, surveillance, even traffic enforcement, and poured many remaining resources into bread-and-butter street patrols.

The domestic-violence unit lost two officers, leaving four to handle about 5,000 cases a year. The undercover units that used to focus on armed gangs in public housing projects have disbanded. Veteran narcotics detectives are back in cruisers, answering 911 calls.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr. believes this is the first step in remaking the department into a lean machine, with fewer high-paid supervisors in desk jobs and more cops on the street fighting bad guys.

Early numbers look good. Reported crime was down about 20% in February and 15% in March from year-earlier levels.

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[There is also much to be said in favor of concealed-carry by a responsible citizenry. Proven fact: when thugs and criminals aren't the only ones on the street that are armed, crime rates drop significantly.-- Editor]