Nearly two months after the Department of Public Safety announced plans to shift “primary call responsibility” from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to local police agencies along interstates in the state’s metro areas, Attorney General Gentner Drummond released an official opinion today that DPS has no authority to “abandon” any part of Oklahoma’s interstates.
According to DPS, there are 133 miles of interstate across Oklahoma City, Edmond, Moore, Del City, Midwest City and Norman, and 42 miles across Tulsa. For those 175 miles, the primary incident response authority would have been transferred from OHP to local and county law enforcement, effective Nov. 1.
“That plan understandably spurred legitimate concern about how public safety would be adversely affected, and it led to State Sen. Mark Mann from Oklahoma City to request a formal opinion as to whether such a move is even legal. The short answer is, ‘No, it is not,'” Drummond said during a press conference. “The Oklahoma Highway Patrol cannot make the arbitrary decision to foist its responsibility onto the municipal and county law enforcement.”
Drummond cited Title 47, Section 2-117(D)(2), which requires the OHP to exercise “primary law enforcement authority respecting traffic-related offenses” on interstates within Oklahoma. In his official opinion, Drummond wrote that the Department of Public Safety “may not cause OHP to abandon or abdicate is ‘primary law enforcement authority’ on interstates. That said, the commissioner and OHP possess discretion to execute the implementation of the primary law enforcement authority on interstates.”
In practice, Drummond acknowledged that DPS could still choose to send the bare minimum of highway patrol troopers to metro areas to stay technically compliant with statute, but he expressed confidence that DPS Commissioner Tim Tipton and Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest would honor what he opined is their responsibility.
“DPS has the discretion to deploy its forces as it needs to. What this does is draw a bright line that they cannot abandon the interstates and highways in the municipalities of Oklahoma City and Tulsa,” Drummond said. “We can play games and have one trooper (in the metro), then we’ll probably have other issues. But what the public asked for — what the legislators have asked for — is clarity on the statutes. (…) I do trust Commissioner Tipton and Secretary Everest to do the right thing.”
After announcing OHP’s plans, Tipton explained that he made the decision because patrol coverage in rural Oklahoma is stretched too thin. OHP has not been able to ensure that troopers are always staffed 24/7 along Interstate 35 and Interstate 40 in rural areas, he said.
“I have to take a statewide holistic approach to public safety and look at it in the totality,” Tipton told NonDoc in July. “If you look at the law enforcement coverage in the Oklahoma City metro area — between Edmond and Moore and Norman and Midwest City and Del City and the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and all of the other agencies that incorporate inside that area — there are hundreds of police officers that are out and active 24/7. But if you leave the metro area, and our state is not covered like that. It doesn’t have that density of law enforcement coverage outside of the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro area.”
Tipton said Wednesday afternoon that he had yet to read Drummond’s opinion and that he would defer comment until he did.
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OKC Mayor David Holt, who joined Drummond to voice his support for the opinion, said when OHP announced its intent, the metro area faced an “imminent public safety crisis.” Holt characterized Tipton’s plan as “total abandonment of two-thirds of the state’s population.”
“All of us who are responsible for the provision of government services must always remember that even when we are stretched thin, we cannot completely abandon residents, taxpayers and voters based simply on where they live,” Holt said. “I have a great sympathy for the challenges faced by Commissioner Tipton, because we face similar challenges in Oklahoma City. We always need more officers at OCPD to cover those 620 square miles you heard the general speaking on. But we know that it would never be an option to say to any of our residents that we’re not even going to try. Obviously, we will never abandon any of our constituents, nor should any level of Oklahoma government.”
Mark Nelson, the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 123 in OKC, also spoke Wednesday, taking time to emphasize how local police forces stand “shoulder to shoulder” with OHP troopers, whom he described as “some of the most professional, finest public safety servants you will ever meet.” Nelson said some OHP troopers are members of his union.
“We have to continue to work with them,” Nelson said. “We’re grateful for the opinion of the general, and very transparently, if his opinion had been on the other side and gave such latitude, we would stand here in support of that position, but in an effort to collaborate to provide public safety. So this isn’t about cherry picking opinions and standing with people that agree with us, because this is about providing public safety. This is about responsibility and resources.”
Attorney general opinions are to be interpreted as having the force of law unless and until the question is challenged in court. As such, Drummond said he thinks the “issue is settled.”
“We can go about business as usual,” he said. “If the governor needs additional resources in the highway patrol, then I anticipate that he’ll ask the Legislature to appropriate more monies so we can have more people.”
Two OKC-based state senators expressed appreciation for Drummond’s opinion. Mann, who requested the opinion, applauded it in a press release.
“As I looked at the statutes, it seemed clear to me that OHP has the responsibility for patrolling Oklahoma’s national system of interstate and defense highways, and I questioned their ability to simply cease enforcement in certain areas. I also believed the governor had the responsibility to compel DPS to continue those enforcement duties,” said Mann (D-OKC). “I’m very gratified that the attorney general’s office agreed.”
Sen. Paul Rosino (R-OKC) echoed those sentiments in his own press release.
“The highway patrol offers specialized skills and critical resources that are essential to public safety efforts in all areas of our state, both urban and rural,” he said. “I appreciate the men and women who put on a uniform each day to protect and serve our communities, and I’m thankful that our state troopers will be able to continue carrying out their duties without interruption.”
