TULSA, Okla. — A 2 News viewer recently sent a video, concerned about continued problems late at night in downtown Tulsa. The video shows a chaotic, large crowd and several fistfights.
About two months ago, the City of Tulsa strengthened the curfew for minors in the downtown area due to an uptick in violence.
WATCH: Despite downtown Tulsa curfew, problems persist
Captain Richard Meulenberg, Tulsa Police Department’s Public Information Officer, says it has helped the downtown area with fewer crowds of teenagers, but it is not going to eliminate problems.
It is not clear whether the people in the video are minors or adults, but no arrests were made. Once several officers arrived at the scene, telling them to break it up, the crowd dispersed.
The video shows it takes several officers to end it, though. The first officer is clearly outnumbered, and, despite using sirens and activating his taser, the crowd keeps fighting.
“The officer is at a crossroads,” said Meulenberg. “So, you wait for more officers to get there to control the situation.”
In addition to weighing their own safety, officers weigh whether any crime is taking place.
“If you choose to get in a fight and… it’s mutual, like yeah, we fought, what is the crime?” said Meulenberg.
However, fights and chaos can lead to escalating situations that are sometimes deadly.
To date, TPD says officers have approached hundreds of people and given verbal warnings about curfew, and have seen a sharp decline in young people in the area. However, they have only arrested or given tickets to fewer than 10 juveniles, because decreasing violence, not issuing tickets, is the ultimate goal.
“There is nothing to gain by having 30, 40, 50, 100 juveniles just going to court,” said Meulenberg.
In one case, officers approached a teenager and later discovered he was carrying a nine-millimeter handgun. Police said that the individual was arrested.
The downtown-specific curfew for minors is from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
It is set to expire on October 22.
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