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The Council for Safe Neighbors consists of people who work in law enforcement, including police officers, sheriff's deputies, and even firefighters.
The main goal is strengthening community bonds to allow people to feel safe calling for help.
Ricardo Saucedo is the general manager at El Patron on 51st street.
He said he’s heard of times where people have died because they were too scared to reach out to authorities, due to lack of trust, and he wants to help change that.
“It will be dangerous if you don’t call for help," he said. "Sometimes, there’s families in particular where they need help- kids, wives, husbands- where they don’t want to get the sheriff’s or police involved because they’re scared of what will happen to them.”
Saucedo is helping the Council for Safe Neighbors spread their message of bringing law enforcement closer to the community by allowing them to host meetings open to the public at the restaurant.
“We've seen things on TV and some of that, but they're here to protect us," he said. "No matter who you are, where you're from, just know that they're gonna be here to protect you, protect us.”
Ivan Patiño is the president of the Council for Safe Neighbors and works as the deputy chair at TCSO.
He said he is happy he’s helping to make a change.
“There's a lot of fear within law enforcement in the community,” said Patiño. “The support I'm getting from a lot of restaurants, organizations, that means we're doing our job, you know? That means we're getting the word out there and and helping the community."
The Council for Safe Neighbors is working on events to bring the community closer together.
They’re currently looking for people to participate in a soccer game between authorities and the public to spread camaraderie.
“We want to support them to so that way they can support our community of Tulsa," said Saucedo.
For more information on how to get involved with the community tournament and the group overall, you can visit the Council's Facebook page here.
The organization is also looking for vendors to showcase their businesses at the event as well as volunteers to help set up the tournament.
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