Norman City Council passes resolution opposing OHP moving troopers out of metro

NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Norman is the latest city to push back against changes to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Starting November 1st, troopers will no longer patrol the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas and focus on rural areas.

This week, the Norman City Council passed a resolution expressing opposition to the decision.

The mayor says Midwest City and Del City both passed similar resolutions, and that he was inspired to do the same.

City councilmembers say that Norman was blindsided by the decision.

"It would have been nice if they reached out to us beforehand and we could have come up with some kind of plan, but they didn't," said Scott Dixon, Ward 8 councilmember

Dixon adds that the police department doesn't have the staff or equipment to take on the responsibility of patrolling the interstate highway system.

"We're already 100%, we use city police officers to patrol state highway nine and state highway 77, we don't have the manpower, we don't have the resources to also take on I-35," said Dixon.

The resolution also states the city's budget was finalized before DPS's decision, meaning there's no money to pay for extra patrols.

"I mean, to be completely frank, I don't know that we would have been able to find the money to increase that budget if we would have known about it in May or June anyways," said Dixon.

Mayor David Holt in Oklahoma City has also been vocal against these changes.

"The proposal is to withdraw one of the most important services that the state government provides to two-thirds of the population of the state. There is no remedy for that," said Mayor Holt.

Oklahoma's Attorney General is expected to weigh in on the legality of this.

"The opinions of the Attorney General have the force of law, so whatever it is that he ultimately says. But, you know, our reading of the statute has been all along that this is not even legal," said Mayor Holt.

News 4 reached out to the Attorney General's office to see when the opinion is expected to be done, and they said soon, but did not have an exact timeline.

We also asked DPS if they have any new comments regarding the resolutions; however, we did not hear back.

During July's news conference, DPS said the main reason for these changes is to ensure 24/7 patrols, even in rural areas.