TULSA, OK (KJRH) — As Tulsa's Equality Indicator meetings continue, neighbors are hoping they will be a catalyst for change. But they’re still wondering what difference the meetings will actually make.
"They gave all this very great informative information, but what are they going to do with it?” asked Shettra Snowball, Joshua Harvey’s aunt. "What policies are going to be set into place?“
At the city council meeting on July 10, Tulsa Police and city councilors heard concerns from neighbors about use of force and preventative policing in neighborhoods with higher crime.
Tulsa police say they don’t single out areas to patrol; they go where research tells them there’s a higher probability of crime to occur.
"We never identify something as a high-crime area," said Officer Danny Bean, "what we get told to do and drive off of are the statistics and the data that is presented to us... The citizens and the people in that residence and in that neighborhood deserve our presence there to help decrease the crime rate.”
When it comes to the policies neighbors want to see implemented in Tulsa neighborhoods, police say they take those voices into account to make sure they’re keeping as many people as possible safe.
"There’s a lot of people, a lot of opinions, a lot of thoughts and statistics and data that goes in to making those types of policies," Officer Bean said, "so we can make them the best for everybody.”
The next meeting is August 14, addressing diversity within the Tulsa Police Department.
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