Cleveland County Sheriff's Office Will Focus Patrols On Highest Crime Areas

The Cleveland County Sheriff's Department has a new operation they are hoping will reduce crime. They are calling it "Operation Vigilant Shepherd" and it kicks off this week.

The department analyzed crime data from June 15 to August 15 and now deputies will focus on the two highest crime areas. Back in July, surveillance cameras caught two thieves yanking an ATM through the wall of the Sooner County Store. But so far no one has been arrested.

“This is a store that is right smack dab in the middle of the area,” said Cleveland County Sheriff’s office Capt. Jacob Wheeler as he pulled into the parking lot.

When Operation Vigilant Shepherd begins on Thursday, that store and its neighbors will be getting some extra attention from Cleveland County Sheriff's Deputies.

“We’re going to essentially saturate the area with patrols,” he said.

On the south part of the county extra patrol will be on a square region that ranges from 60th Street to 156th Street and Etowah to Slaughterville Road. Up North, deputies will focus on the Pecan Valley area along 192nd Avenue NE.

Deputies will not only be driving around to be closer if a call goes out, but will also be checking in with businesses and residents to develop leads on who may have committed the crimes in the first place. And often it's the same people causing most of the trouble.

“A lot of times it’s going to be their neighbors or they may know or have ideas of who it may be. But they don’t contact the police they don’t contact the sheriff’s office until we go out and make contact with them.”

Wheeler says this type of operation has proven successful in the past. The office performed a similar operation back in 2014.

“I’m sure the neighboring counties are wishing we wouldn’t do this,” joked Wheeler. “We either catch them or they move on.”

Operation Vigilant Shepherd will last until December first. The department will continue to analyze all the crime data over the next three months and will adjust those focus areas if they need to.