It’s unseasonably warm in early January, and there are a lot of people taking advantage of the sunny day in downtown Tulsa.
That makes it a busy day for Jason Edwards, a patrol officer for the Tulsa Police Department. He’s part of the Impact Team, a TPD initiative that focuses specifically on downtown issues, including homelessness.
“Community policing is what we do,” says Edwards, who is one of five officers on the team. “Our role is to figure out how we can make life better for all parties. We enforce the laws to help businesses run smoothly. When we encounter a person who is (emotionally) down, we try to intervene and help them.”