The new Safe City Initiative started Sunday as an outgrowth of Operation Bullet Trap, which targeted gang violence for the past 15 months, said Deputy Chief Mark McCrory.

Through mid-year, violent crime is down overall in Tulsa, but community groups and businesses have told police that pockets of the city still have crime problems, he said.

"We felt we needed to re-evaluate our Bullet Trap operation and look at it honestly, evaluating the strengths and weakness of it, and see what we can do better to have a greater impact on those areas of the city that have not had the luxury of experiencing a downtrend in violent crime," McCrory said.

Crime statistics from the Police Department's Web page show that 3,001 violent crimes -- including the categories of homicide, rape, robbery and assault -- were reported in the city last year from January through July. That number was down this year to 2,657 violent crimes through July.

Mayor Kathy Taylor said that while crime has dropped in Tulsa, "no amount of crime is tolerated," and she thanked the Police Department's leaders for organizing the crackdown.

The new task force will continue Bullet Trap's focus on gangs and also will focus on identifying and saturating areas where crime occurs.

"We want to stress that this is

A team of an unspecified number of officers will work seven days a week as part of the Safe City Initiative. The officers are members of directed patrol units and volunteers from the patrol divisions.

"These officers are so enthusiastic about it that the majority of them have agreed to forego their regular days off and take worse days off so they can work the days that statistically we have more of a propensity for violence in the city," McCrory said.

Taylor said the Safe City Initiative resulted from "these officers doing what they are passionate about doing, and doing it well."

The level of staffing on patrol beats will not be diminished, McCrory said.

Police are also teaming with other city departments, such as Code Enforcement, as well as with the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of the Safe City Initiative.

Police commanders plan to evaluate monthly the strengths and weaknesses of the initiative and make adjustments as needed.

Operation Bullet Trap

The new Safe City Initiative is an outgrowth of Operation Bullet Trap, a 15-month effort that targeted gang violence. Here are the results of the previous violent crime crackdown.

848 Total arrests
965 Felony charges
516 Misdemeanor charges
202 Felony warrants served
848 Misdemeanor warrants served
226 Guns confiscated
129 Search warrants served
$201,223 Seized

Drugs confiscated
15.51 pounds of cocaine
185.55 pounds of marijuana
4.06 pounds of methamphetamine

Nicole Marshall 581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com