OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite a plan by the Department of Public Safety to exclude the state’s two largest metro areas from patrol by state troopers, those patrols must continue, a binding opinion issued last week by the state attorney general said.
Earlier this year, the DPS announced a plan to withdraw the Oklahoma Highway Patrol from servicing the interstate highways in Tulsa and Oklahoma City beginning Nov. 1; local police departments were expected to patrol instead.
However, an opinion issued by state Attorney General Gentner Drummond on Aug. 27 shot that plan down.
DPS records show there are 133 miles of interstate across Oklahoma City, Edmond, Moore, Del City, Midwest City and Norman and another 42 miles around Tulsa.
The opinion was requested by state Sen. Mark Mann, a Democrat from Oklahoma City.
Drummond’s binding opinion – which carries the force of law – states that the OHP must continue serving the state’s major metropolitan areas and OHP does not have the authority to carry out its stated plan to abandon interstates in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Moore and Norman.
“The most fundamental function of government is to provide public safety for its citizens,” Drummond said in a media statement about the opinion. “The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is vested with primary law enforcement authority on our interstates, and that authority imposes a mandatory duty. I will not allow Gov. Stitt or OHP leadership to put Oklahoma citizens at risk by refusing to patrol our most densely populated areas.”
The opinion points to Title 47 of state law which, Drummond wrote, “makes clear that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Division shall have primary law enforcement authority respecting traffic- related offenses upon the [interstates] and is to investigate and report traffic collisions on all [interstates].”
The opinion also acknowledged OHP’s contention that rural Oklahoma warrants additional attention.
“To be sure, this office has no reason to doubt that there is an increased need for more resources in rural Oklahoma to ensure the coverage and service Oklahomans expect from OHP,” the AG’s opinion said. “More to the point, this office concludes that the OHP’s ‘primary law enforcement authority respecting traffic-related offenses’ on Oklahoma’s Interstates is a mandatory duty that cannot be abdicated in favor of local law enforcement, either in urban or rural areas.”
Mann, the senator who requested the opinion, issued a media statement saying he was pleased.
“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,” Mann’s statement said. “I also believed the governor had the responsibility to compel DPS to continue those enforcement duties. I’m very gratified that the attorney general’s office agreed.”
Drummond said he has discussed the issue with local law enforcement leaders whose communities would be negatively impacted by an OHP withdrawal.
“I greatly appreciate the law enforcement leaders from these areas because they are deeply committed to protecting and serving,” he said. “I am proud to collaborate with such fine public servants and partner with them to advance public safety in their communities.”
Turn to OHP, p4 Drummond said no one in OHP leadership or DPS consulted with him about their plans to eliminate metropolitan patrols before announcing them. He said he remains willing to work with them to ensure they fulfill their legal duty and provide the highest level of protection possible for Oklahomans.
“As the chief law enforcement officer in the state, my highest priority is public safety,” Drummond said. “I will gladly work with Secretary Everest and OHP leadership to establish a plan that complies with the law and protects all four million Oklahomans.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Tricia Everest as Secretary of Public Safety in 2021.
For their part, DPS officials said the plan was a result of OHP troopers bring spread too thin.
The OHP released a statement Wednesday in response to the opinion.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it has not and never will abandon or abdicate its duties as the state's primary law enforcement agency. The agency also said it would need to make some changes to its plan.
'The plan OHP presented simply asked the municipal agencies in the two metro areas to work the car crashes within their city limits the way other municipalities do across the state,' the agency said. 'The opinion that has been issued does not undermine OHP’s troop realignment strategy. With that in mind, OHP recognizes the original plan will require some adjustments, and OHP leadership is evaluating appropriate updates to the plan.'
Following the release of the opinion, Stitt issued a statement saying he agrees with Drummond that Oklahoma law assigns specific responsibilities to the DPS but Stitt added he disagrees with what those duties are.
Stitt said state law makes it clear that DPS 'has the authority to allocate Highway Patrol resources in response to collisions as it sees fit.'
Stitt said he also supports DPS Commissioner Tim Tipton. 'Commissioner Tipton is taking a thoughtful, statewide approach to public safety that will make Oklahoma safer, especially in areas that have long gone without consistent coverage,' the governor’s statement said.