Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larson discussed the department’s response to natural disasters and its efforts to increase safety in downtown Tulsa.
TPD’s Role in Natural Disasters
“The Incident Management Team, which we call our IMT team, is nationally certified, and they’ve actually helped with disasters all over the United States, from the Carolinas to New Orleans,” Chief Larson said.
“When we had the derecho, once the sun came up, we immediately started evaluating the damage, what it was going to take to recover,” he continued. “All the city departments kick in from Public Works to Stormwater Management to the Parks Department. And we start, the IMT team is at the core of that.”
Discussing the response to recent wildfires near Tulsa, Larson explained, “We didn’t go there to take over the scene. We went there to say, ‘Here’s what we have learned from other major incidences, and here’s how we can help.’”…