Police sweep park area

By Donna Hales

September 06, 2008 12:46 am

— Sixteen police officers in bullet-proof helmets and vests, guns strapped to their legs and toting submachine guns or AR-15 rifles were on the hunt Friday.
They manned seven police cruisers and a police mini-bus in which dark windows hid them. The caravan wound silently through the streets of Muskogee. Pedestrians and motorists stopped to look, despite the absence of flashing lights or sirens.
Five shootings and two stabbings in an 8-10 block radius around Rotary Park on Aug. 24 had prompted a “Saturation Patrol” by police ending Aug. 31. Friday’s Operation TNT (Target Narcotic Traffickers) was a follow-up to Saturation Patrol.
“Luckily, nobody is dead yet — two (victims) are still in the hospital,” Special Operations Team Commander and Police Capt. Chad Farmer said.
The conditions of those victims were not known Friday, police said.
Friday morning, two Special Operations Team operatives slipped out of the van on Boston Street. They jumped over alley fences and into the back yard of a residence in the 2400 block of Columbus.
By then, 14 more riot-clad operatives rolled out of the van on Columbus, rifles or submachine guns in hand and armed with a search warrant. Bolstered by Special Investigations Team members, they merged and quickly surrounded a house.
Loud sonic-like booms ripped through the air, as if a war had just started. No one had been shot, and there were no actual explosions. “Flash bangs” had been set off.
“They’re like 75-decibel shotgun blasts going off,” Farmer said.
Dogs in the vicinity stopped barking and were almost whimpering for a short time.
It’s a diversion, Farmer said.
Within a few minutes, one of two arrest warrants had been served, and an occupant of the house was being led out in handcuffs.
Police were on a roll, planning to serve 57 arrest warrants.
The local SWAT team’s Saturation Patrol was planned to stop threats and calm the neighborhood. Police opted for a pro-active approach over being reactive, Farmer said.
The night after the Aug.25 shootings, two police officers also got hurt on Elgin Street trying to arrest somebody, Farmer said.
A group of 20 or 30 people slowed them down, throwing water and bottles on them.
Officer Greg Foreman got hit in the back of the head with a bottle. Officer Ken Hughey ripped the hide off two fingers on cement. He was wrestling to get a guy’s arms out from under him, Farmer said.
“They couldn’t get the guys who assaulted them, Farmer said.
Police had to go back and take control — the neighborhood was at risk, he said.
Police were surprised at how many neighborhood citizens thanked them for being there. Some flagged them down to thank them, Farmer said.
“It made us feel a little better — we aren’t used to getting much thanks,” he said.
Before the Saturation Patrol ended, the team spread from Seventh Street to 32nd Street, south of Okmulgee Avenue to Border Street and ended up going north to Martin Luther King Street, Farmer said.
Team members conducted driver’s license checks, aggressively patrolling the area, “stopping everything we could get a stop on,” Farmer said.
The six-day effort resulted in:
• 78 citations issued, ranged from carrying a concealed weapon to speeding.
• 10 felony arrests and 20 misdemeanor arrests.
• One accident worked.
• Seizure of drugs, three firearms and $1,965 in cash.
• Serving $10,913.80 in outstanding county warrants and $3,814 in city warrants.
All team members have other police assignments, usually investigations or patrol.
That means everybody in the department has to pull an extra load while the team is in action, Farmer said.
From five to 18 team members were working on the operation each of the six days on Saturation Patrol, for a total of 296 man hours, he said.
And, they’re not finished, Lt. Bryan Stark said late Friday afternoon.
Police will be out over the weekend and Monday trying to arrest at least 27 more named in warrants, Stark said.
Those not in custody by Monday will be named in the Phoenix, along with a message from police that “we’re encouraging them to come in,” Stark said.
Reach Donna Hales at 918-684-2923 or Click Here to Send Email

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