Tulsa Police, Fire Show Councilors New Public Safety Center

The Chiefs of Tulsa Police and Fire led City Councilors on a tour of an empty office building that will be modified for a new Public Safety Center. The city has a $45 million contract for the property, a former regional office for State Farm Insurance, near 51st and 129th East Avenue.

The new site is closer to Broken Arrow’s downtown than Tulsa, but both Chiefs said with largely administrative staff in the building, the location is no issue. Tulsa Police will move the Mingo Valley Division into the building, and they’ll have easy highway access through the patrol area.

“They’ll meet here every day,” said Chief Franklin, “but those meetings are sometimes just 15 minutes, and even then, sometimes they get a call, and there are times when they need to leave quickly, and so this is the perfect spot to get in and out of the building quickly.”

Each of the departments will have more space, and for the first time, fire, police, and emergency management will be under one roof. The city anticipates renovation and additions will cost $20 million, but the overall cost is much less than building new, which consultants told the city would have been at least twice as much.

"It's been maintained since it's been empty and the land around it, there's room for expansion and there's nothing in downtown Tulsa that has this kind of amenities," Tulsa City Council Chair Jeannie Cue said.

"It's consolidating a lot of city facilities that are spread out around the city, which we think is a great use of resources and encourages collaboration,” said Mayor G.T. Bynum.