FUNDS TO HELP TULSA CUT DRUG LABS

TULSA -- Tulsa police plan to use $216,541 in federal funds to eliminate or
reduce the number of clandestine drug labs operating in the city, it was
announced Friday.

Police Chief Ron Palmer said the money will be used to buy safety equipment
and train officers about investigation and cleanup of illegal
methamphetamine labs. The labs are a growing problem in the city and across
the state.

"We also want to warn and educate retailers in the area that sell
ingredients to methamphetamine about what to do if they have a person
coming in wanting to buy large quantities of those ingredients," he said.

The $215,541 is the largest portion of $1.2 million in Local Law
Enforcement Block Grant money that Palmer and Mayor Susan Savage announced
Friday. The funded programs are being administered by the Tulsa Police
Department, Urban Development, Park Department and Municipal Court.

Palmer said some funding will to go to continue programs that have proved
successful, such as Operation Nite-Lite and the Ministerial Coalition,
Palmer said.

In Operation Nite-Lite, which went into effect last fall, Tulsa police
officers and Tulsa County sheriff's deputies go with probation officers
from the Juvenile Bureau District Court to make unannounced visits to the
homes of probationers.

The targets are between the ages of 14 and 22. The goal is to hold the
youths to the terms of their probation and attempt to prevent crimes. That
program will be allocated $125,000.

The Ministerial Coalition will be given $15,000 for officers' salaries,
daily operations, training, recruitment and crime prevention materials.

The Child Abuse Network is getting $104,826 for teams that conduct child
abuse investigations. Those teams include police, prosecutors, state
Department of Human Service workers and medical professionals.

Other grant amounts include $85,000 for automating the police records
management system; $55,000 for gun court for a court program to reduce
firearm offenses by juveniles; $100,000 for education on mental health for
law enforcement and case management workers; $100,000 to teach parenting
skills to incarcerated women, and $6,545 for security lighting, intercom
and security cameras for high crime areas.