were all unlocked or they would simulate forcing open a door.  When the team members discussed the reality of what tools officers would have to carry, and the training necessary to successfully use the tools in a chaotic and high-stress environment, they quickly realized they needed to look at new options.  This led the team members to reach out to a company that was offering a new lightweight multifunctional tool.

The problem they were looking to solve was that conventional tools used by law enforcement were heavy and cumbersome.  The ram used by law enforcement weighed between 30 and 40 pounds and it required a dedicated officer to carry it.  If a building had several commercially built doors to open, like schools and commercial buildings, the officer carrying and swinging the ram was quickly exhausted.  Additionally, the ram was only effective on doors that open in.  If a door opened out, the officer needed an additional pry tool.  If the officers found themselves needing to open a window, that required an additional tool that was often long and heavy.  Carrying all these tools was expensive, officers did not have enough room in their vehicles to carry the tools, and the officer carrying the tool could not use their weapon during the response.

Officers called a little-known company from the east coast and asked to test and evaluate a Jersey Claw.  The owners of Jersey Tactical had been doing great work on the east coast, but their products had not really caught on in the middle of the country at this point.  Without hesitation, the owners asked where to send the tool and shipped it out immediately.  When members of SOT received the tool, they quickly realized how effective it was and what a huge impact it could have for patrol officers.  Members of SOT are selected from patrol officers.  They understand what equipment patrol officers need in their daily work and the importance of having it when they need it.  When team members took this information to the command staff at the Operations Bureau, they quickly saw the value and purchased 75 Jersey Claws for patrol use.  Jersey Tactical put the order into motion and flew to Tulsa to train the first instructors in the use of the Claw.  Officers and Troopers from the northeastern part of Oklahoma came to the training and learned how to make their communities safer.  Once team members were trained, instructors quickly found real world training locations and began training officers from across the department.

From this training SOT members developed academy level training so new police officers have the training, knowledge, and equipment to save lives the day they hit the street.  Having access to the Jersey Claw has allowed officers to save lives when a citizen is injured in their home and officers are faced with a locked door, to open doors and windows to safely arrest some of the most violent criminals in our city, and during hostage rescue calls where they do not have time to wait for SOT.  The Jersey Claw was most notably used when a man was holding a two-year-old hostage with a gun on a second-floor balcony.  The SOT members used the tool on the Emergency Intervention Team because it was lightweight but could open any fortification they would encounter until a dedicated Hostage Rescue Entry Team could be stood up.  After this many years, the tool has been used too many times to account for in this short article.

For the citizens of Tulsa, please know the Tulsa Police Department has been at the forefront of forcible entry during active shooter response for a decade.  We knew that if we could not get into the building or room, there were no tactics or weapons that would allow us to save lives.  Tragedies like Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and West Nickle Mines School drive us to be ready and not fail our community when they need us most.  Thank you to our community and its elected officials for ensuring the Tulsa Police Department stays one of the best trained and best equipped departments in the country and thank you to the officers that work and sweat with everything they have professionally to be ready when the call come across the radio.