Two Named Officer Of The Month

A TEAM EFFORT BY TWO officers which resulted in capture of a man wanted for several robberies led to their selection as the Tulsa Police Department’s Officers of the Month today.

Here Charlie Hoggat (left) gives trophies presented by the Oil Capital Suburban Chamber of Commerce to Detective Lt. Felix Raiford (center) and Patrol Officer Gary Glanz. Glanz is holding a plaque which hangs in the police station and bears names of all officers who are selected as Officers of the Month.

Raiford and Glanz won the award for work which led to the arrest and filing of robbery charges against Donald Edward Smith.

On Nov. 28, Glanz was chasing a getaway car which had left the scene of a grocery store robbery. During the chase, the getaway car was wrecked and the driver fled afoot. Glanz recognized the driver as Smith, a known felon. However, the man got away.

Glanz conferred with Lt. Raiford on plans to capture Smith and received permission to participate in the efforts on his off-duty hours. He worked closely with Raiford.

On Dec. 6, the police dispatcher broadcast a report of a robbery, which had just taken place at a Tulsa grocery. Raiford went to the scene, where victims identified a picture of Smith as the bandit.

Raiford and Glanz then checked motels in the vicinity, finally finding one where a man known to be a companion of Smith had registered. They went to his room, and the occupants, one of them Smith, were placed under arrest. A search revealed the weapons used in the robbery and the money taken.

Smith admitted committing five robberies, officers said.