Broken Arrow is a safe destination for work or play, due in part to a Safe Hotels initiative that became a City Ordinance in 2023.

The initiative has fostered greater cooperation between the City of Broken Arrow and local hoteliers, positively impacting the reduction of criminal activity at these businesses.

Officer Michael Peale said the initiative's success is a total team effort involving the hotels, the Broken Arrow Police Department, the Broken Arrow Fire Department, the City of Broken Arrow's Code Enforcement Department, Permitting and Licensing Department, and the Tourism and Economic Development Department. 

Peale says the collaborative effort has resulted in positive trending data derived from the number of police calls made to individual hotels annually.

In 2021-2022, the year preceding the initiative's launch, there were 605 calls for service at the 14 hotels collectively in Broken Arrow. After the City Council enacted the ordinance in 2023-2024, the number of calls decreased to 295; in 2024-2025, the number further reduced to 259.

The numbers have caveats. For example, suppose the hotel requests a police trespass warning for someone on hotel property. In that case, the calls won't affect the hotel's statistics.

"This has allowed the hoteliers to get problem customers off their grounds while not spiking their calls for service calculations," Peale said. "This has worked well for the hoteliers and the Police Department."

If an officer conducts a pedestrian or vehicle check, that call does not count against the hotel. Similarly, if an alarm goes off, those calls are not included in the hotel's statistics.

"If someone has a heart attack, that call isn't counted against the hotel," Peale said. "However, if someone has an overdose on drugs, that call would count."

Once the non-applicable calls are removed, the remaining number of calls by the hotel to the police is divided by the number of rooms in the hotel.

"That's what gives us our ratio," Peale said. "We do that so it's fair for the hotel, whether there's 30 rooms or 200 rooms. It's all relative."

When the department conducts the assessment, the goal is to have fewer than 0.6 applicable calls for service per room.

"We want less than one call per room, obviously during the course of that year," Peale said. 

Before the ordinance was put in place, eight out of the fourteen hotels in the City had a calls for service rate (CFS) exceeding 0.6, five had a CFS ratio above 1.0, and the highest ratio was 4.1. 

"At that particular hotel, during the course of the year, they had more than four calls for every room," Peale said. "These numbers told us, 'Hey, we've got a problem, and we need to find a way to address it."

In the second full year of the initiative, only two of the 14 hotels had a score above 0.6. 

"So, we've gone down from eight hotels to only two, and they were only slightly over," Peale said. "None of them were 1.0; the highest was 0.7."

The same hotel, previously at 4.1, has improved to a 0.7-rated hotel. 

"So, in the two years since the initiative started, they have brought it down, Peale said. "They are still over the 0.6 we're shooting for, but they don't have many rooms in that hotel, so every single call significantly impacts their numbers." 

Peale says that while there is still more work to be done, the data show that these businesses are taking the initiative seriously and are seeing the benefits of their efforts.

Trevor Swanson, Director of Sales at TownePlace Suites and Holiday Inn Express, says the initiative has established a consistent and positive line of communication between the hotels and the City, particularly with the police department. It has also helped the hotelier enhance guest safety and staff confidence. 

"By aligning with the ordinance's guidelines—such as maintaining compliance with fire and safety inspections and actively monitoring property activity, we've seen a noticeable decrease in disruptive behavior and an increase in guest satisfaction," Swanson said. 

When asked if the ordinance ever makes them pause or think twice before calling the police for assistance, Swanson said, "Not at all. One of the things that I appreciate about the ordinance is that it encourages transparency and cooperation rather than penalizing responsible reporting. We've been assured that the intent is not to discourage reporting legitimate issues but to identify patterns of ongoing problems. The police have been very supportive when we have needed assistance." 

Clarion Hotel General Manager Brencie Pittmon agreed, saying the initiative has not only improved communication between her hotel and the City, but it has also enhanced communication among hoteliers. 

"We appreciate the hard work and everyone assisting us with any questions or concerns that we had," Pittmon said. "I am confident that this new change will bring more revenue for our hotel as well as the City of Broken Arrow. I also reached out to the hotels near us by visiting their properties and introducing myself. We exchanged our personal contact information and agreed to share the guest information as well as the issues the guest brought to our hotel. This is to prevent these guests from moving from one hotel to another and bringing the same issues, and to prevent them from recurring at each property. I want to express my gratitude for the support that we receive, and I look forward to working with the City in the years to come." 

Due to the positive aspects of the initiative, hoteliers are also making a greater investment in their local businesses. 

Four hotels have been renovated in the last two years, and two more are scheduled for a $1.2 million renovation and rebranding effort. 

"They see the benefits of putting their money into their businesses and our community," Peale said. 

He considers this initiative a success, 100 percent. 

"We want to keep our citizens and our visitors safe," he concluded.