TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa city councilors are considering an Independent Review and Oversight of Public Safety committee. The idea, proposed by Councilors Lori Decter Wright and Vanessa Hall Harper, is to add layers of accountability and monitoring all facets of public safety city wide.
The office would be responsible for reviewing investigation or incidents or conduct, covering all public safety departments including Tulsa police, fire, emergency management and animal welfare.
Some councilors — Laura Bellis, Decter Wright and Hall Harper — said this conversation has been going around their table in iterations for a decade now. All said they want to see action, and need to get to the finish line.
“Citizens are suffering and I’m sick of it," said Hall Harper. "I am wiling to collaborate and do the work, but we’ve got to end in something and not BS. Not the same old same, I’m sick of it."
How the oversight would work
The proposed committee would include:
- A full time director
- A deputy director
- An 11 member civilian board
This team would monitor city, criminal and internal investigations across all public safety departments, providing an independent review of how cases are handled.
"None of this is a substitute for community policing efforts, community-based efforts that have been ongoing for a long time, new things that are coming on," said Decter Wright. "I would say this is not about not having confidence, this is about creating more confidence."
Council divided on timing and approach
The proposal has split councilors, with some arguing they need more time to get feedback from public safety leaders, while others say the discussion has dragged on too long.
"I have always said I've been against this kind of oversight because I don't believe in Monday morning quarterbacking our public safety folks," said Councilor Christian Bengel. “This seems overly expansive, it’s too big I think for one office to handle, there’s so many facets of this.”
Push for proactive change
Councilor Laura Bellis made an impassioned plea to her colleagues, emphasizing this represents an opportunity to address systemic issues before another crisis they could help prevent.
"I've never seen a thoughtful analysis of like this trend's happened over time so now we're doing this differently or now we're proposing this policy," Bellis said. "I've never seen that cross this table in the past decade and we've seen a lot of repeated trends that are concerning. We cannot pretend otherwise."
Next steps uncertain
With two councilors absent from the budget meeting Sept. 23, the council planned to hear public comment on the proposal at their regular meeting, but said they will likely delay the actual vote until a future meeting.
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