SPECIAL OPERATIONS
DIVISION LEADERSHIP
The Special Operations Division serves the entire police department and City of Tulsa. The full-time units with SOD include the K-9 Unit, Air Support Unit, Motorcycle Unit and Explosive Detection Canine Unit.
Part-time units include the Underwater Search & Recovery Unit (Dive Team), Incident Management Team, Tulsa Police Reserves, Bomb Squad, Special Response Team and Special Operations Team.
Mike Eckert
Captain
Shellie Seibert
Captain
K-9 UNIT
Established in 1962, the Tulsa Police K-9 Unit began with two Officers. Today, the unit consists of 11 dual purpose dogs that are patrol and narcotics certified. The unit has 11 Officers, along with a Lieutenant and Sergeant overseeing operations.
The function of the Tulsa Police K-9 Unit is to support field Officers on a wide range of calls. The K-9 unit deploys on felony crimes with the canines being trained in building searches, area searches, tracking, suspect apprehension, and narcotics detection.
AIR SUPPORT UNIT
The primary purpose of the Air Support Unit is to assist field operations. The unit responds to numerous calls for service which include robberies, burglaries, stolen vehicles, vehicle pursuits, foot pursuits and suspicious persons or vehicles. The unit routinely works with the Tulsa Police K-9 Unit assisting with locating and apprehension of suspects.
Another high priority incident that the Air
Unit assists with is helping to locate missing children and elderly adults. When requested, the Air Support Unit will assist outside agencies locating felony suspects or lost individuals. The unit also takes part in community events, such as school functions allowing our Officers a chance to interact with the public and show them the equipment and technology we have to help keep them safe.
MOTORCYCLE UNIT
The Tulsa Police Motorcycle Unit is a full-time unit with the primary purpose of traffic enforcement. Additional duties include dignitary escort and traffic control on significant events.
The unit also takes part in local parades and runs, such as the Veterans Day Parade, the MLK Jr. Day Parade, the Rt. 66 marathon, and the Tulsa Run in downtown Tulsa.
Each year, the Tulsa Police Motorcycle Unit offers motorcycle safety course classes that are free and open to the public. The courses are in partnership with Tulsa Parks and are sponsored by the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office “Share the Road” grant. The courses take place on Saturday mornings in the spring.
UNDERWATER SEARCH & RECOVERY UNIT (DIVE TEAM)
The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit, commonly called the Dive Team, is a specialty unit whose members are all certified “Open water Divers.” Ultimately, all police divers in the unit can be trained and certified to the “Divemaster” (PADI) certification level of training. The focus of the Dive Team is typically on recovery, not rescue. The unit assists in evidentiary searches, recovery of drowning victims, underwater searches of vehicles and vessels, support in the reconstruction or photography of underwater crime scenes, and public service lectures and presentations.
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM
The mission of the Incident Management Team (IMT) is to
provide support to field command operations within the City
of Tulsa. The IMT's focus is to provide a contingent of specially
trained and credentialed Officers for the rapid implementation of an Incident Command Post (ICP) and to assist with the coordination of the Incident Command System (ICS) with other response agencies.
The team trains every month to respond to tornadoes, floods,
major storms, man-made occurrences, hazardous materials
releases, terrorist acts, weapons of mass destruction, mass fatality incidents, transportation accidents (air, rail, water, highway), civil disorders, prison/jail disorders, large crime scenes, missing persons (Amber Alert or Alzheimer’s victim), incidents involving a large area searches, and special events.
BOMB SQUAD
The Tulsa Police Department’s Bomb Squad consists of eight certified bomb technicians and six explosive detection canine handlers and their partners.
​
Bomb Squad personnel receive two days of training each month in addition to a week-long extended training session.
Each year, the squad provides more than 120 hours of training to other law enforcement agencies, government agencies, businesses, etc. Upon request, Bomb Squad personnel also assist many communities outside of the City of Tulsa.
SPECIAL OPERATIONS TEAM
The Tulsa Police Special Operations Team is charged with handling some of the most difficult tasks faced by the Tulsa Police Department. This typically includes armed and barricaded suspects, service of high-risk warrants, dignitary protection, and hostage rescue.
SPECIAL RESPONSE TEAM
The Tulsa Police Special Response Team (SRT) is tasked with handling situations, incidents, or conflicts requiring coordination of a large number of resources from the department. These incidents may include natural disasters, like floods, tornados, severe thunderstorms, and ice storms or man-made disasters, like civil disturbances, explosions and bombings, acts of terrorism, penal institution disturbances or transportation accidents.
Contact the Mental Health Unit: TPDMHU@cityoftulsa.org
MENTAL HEALTH UNIT
The Mental Health Unit provides support and training to patrol operations. The MHU serves as a community liaison to facilitate a professional, humane, and safe response to citizens in a mental health crisis or experiencing chronic behavioral health issues and to those experiencing homelessness.
MHU responsibilities:
-
The Community Response Team (CRT)
-
Mental health case management
-
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) regional training
-
Annual TPD mental health training
-
Peer support program
-
Tulsa Sobering Center liaison