TULSA, Okla. — Time is of the essence when responding to a critical incident, and Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office deputies say officer and civilian safety is paramount.
“We have taken things into account and we’ve seen through our traffic stops over the years as a whole and as a training staff the different things that drivers do, and we’ve taken that information to our fleet division and they have really taken that information and ran with it,” said Deputy Adam Bivens.
2 News learned the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office is putting a hard focus on technology in its vehicles.
“It was more of just listening to people’s input or concerns from past experiences that they have had” said TCSO Fleet Manager Travis Bricker.
The department is adding features to allow deputies to keep their hands on the wheel.
“We can actually control the light patterns from the steering wheel and so we can turn them on or turn them off, and we can activate sirens from the steering wheel without having to reach down,” said Bricker.
Other additions including adding a howler or rambler to the sirens so that drivers can hear and even feel when deputies are approaching an intersection and need to get through quickly.
Driver Troy Powley said he is all for the new additions.
“I know a couple of them have the howlers on them and stuff so you can kind of feel it a little more than hear it, but you know it is hard to hear it if you’ve got your music up and you’re just sitting there not paying attention it will come up on you, “ said Powley.
The department is also adding a button on the steering wheel that acts as the radio.
”It’s now on the steering wheel and if he’s in a pursuit or if there is a second vehicle in the pursuit they can call directions and situations and keep their hands on the wheel,” said Bricker.
For the back of the vehicle, they’ve added a remote hand-held controller so the deputy can issue commands with space between them and the other person.
“That’s good. Anything to keep them safe,” said Powley.
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