Tulsa Police Department

The State of Oklahoma has a policing problem. Specifically, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Last year, an…

“Our chief of police has stated he will not allow community input in developing the new use of force policies for TPD; Chief Wendell Franklin’s decision is rife with hypocrisy,” says Dr. Tiffany Crutcher.

“The televised arrest of a Tulsa woman, granted ticketed access to the area surrounding the BOK Center shocked and upset many viewers.

On the eve of the 99th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, hundreds of residents peacefully demonstrate in a community-wide call for justice and reform in the city of Tulsa

What happened last Saturday night is not unusual in Tulsa, but that does not mean that it is something to accept and embrace. Instead of more upstream solutions like the Rapid Response Team being there to serve as a bridge to services, the police, an entity downstream of many systemic oppressions and failures, was present and did what they could to help in the moment, while ultimately arresting her later. 

Nothing has actually changed in policing, TPD’s policies and Tulsa’s city government from 2017 — when I first began closely examining Tulsa’s community policing efforts — till now. All of the efforts that the public sees were planned behind the scenes by activists and citizens who would not and will not be silent because their community is over-policed, scrutinized, and portrayed as being a “high crime” area on television shows like Live PD.

With Mayor Bynum holding interviews for the new Chief of Police, the public safety and service of Tulsa’s most vulnerable communities affected by regressive policing must be put at the forefront.