Taylor To Name Former Chief New Chief?

From The Tulsa World Online ~ Former Tulsa Police Chief Ron Palmer will be returned to his old post today, sources familiar with Mayor Kathy Taylor's decision say. Taylor has announced plans to name a new police chief today at 3:30 p.m., but has not made the name public yet. Palmer did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday. Palmer served as police 1992-2002 and left to become a private security consultant.

David Bostrom, a law enforcement consultant from Wilmington, Del., has served as the interim chief since May.Taylor has come under fire recently by some police for deciding the post will be an at-will post rather than one covered by civil service.

A lawsuit by the three rejected internal candidates is still pending in Tulsa County District Court. They maintain Taylor is required by the City Charter to hire one of them.

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Taylor Names Gun Control Advocate Interim Chief

Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor has named gun control advocate David Bostrom as the city's new interim police chief.

Bostrom, a former commander in the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC (site of the most stringent gun control in the nation) and the Wilmington, Delaware, police department, has been working as a independent contractor and consultant to Street Law, Inc.

Street Law, Inc., in partnership with the Soros Foundation, is establishing an Open Society Street Law Program which currently involves 13 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The goals of this program are to provide training and technical assistance to partner country teams. The Soros Foundation is headed by billionaire gun control advocate George Soros.

Directly and through his organization Open Society Institute (OSI), Soros (pictured) has funded various gun control organizations, such as the Tides Foundation, the HELP Network and SAFE Colorado. He and seven friends founded their own political committee — Campaign for a Progressive Future — and spent $2 million on political activities in 2000, including providing the prime financial backing for the Million Mom March. OSI has supported UN efforts to create international gun control regulations and has singled out the United States for failing to go along with the international consensus on protective gun control measures.

Bostrom has 35 years of police experience, including work commanding the Special Operations Division of the Washington D.C. police department. He has been active in the International Association of Chiefs of Police, an organization that supported the Clinton gun ban (AKA "The Brady Bill") and opposes concealed carry by law-abiding citizens. The IACP has received millions of dollars in funding from the ultra-liberal, anti-gun Joyce Foundation.

Bostrom is not a candidate for the permanent police chief's position, Taylor and Bostrom said.

Taylor declined to name a chief from within the department; three officers applied and when they were passed over, a legal challenge was mounted. Taylor contracted with an out-of-state firm to recommend potential chiefs to her. That action fueled speculation that Taylor, a charter member of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's coalition of mayors with gun control as an agenda item, wanted a pro-gun control chief.

Hat tip to readers of batesline.com in Tulsa for research assistance on Bostrom.

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