The Tulsa Police Department can’t talk about any specifics involving the aftermath of the Crutcher case they can talk about the department’s community policing efforts which have increased significantly in the last year.
“We’ve always done a lot in community policing but over the last few years we’ve really ramped it up,” says Major Travis Yates with the Tulsa Police Department.
Major Travis Yates with the Special Operations Division has been with the Tulsa Police department for 26 years.
He’s been working on the community policing efforts since 2018 and says- he’s seen a positive impact.
“The community has to trust us and community policing is a great avenue for that. The more we can work with adults and children in a positive environment the more we can gain that trust, build that rapport and they, in turn, will help us in coming up with strategies to solve crime in their neighborhood,” says Maj.Yates.
The department works alongside a non-profit to fund this effort.
The department also has a full-time pal-or police activities league officer- as well as a community service officer at every division. In the year since the police activity league was formed- the department has spent nearly thirteen-hundred hours doing community events and reached more than eight-thousand kids.
“We think in generations to come, what we’re doing today is going to make a tremendous impact”. says Maj.Yates.
As for policy changes in the last 3 years, police tell us the department's policies are constantly being updated and changed to meet CALEA standards.
CALEA is the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and sets the national standard for policing.
The city of Tulsa is also working to establish a police oversight committee, however, the most recent attempt -- an Office of the Independent Monitor- has been suspended.
Mayor G.T. Bynum saying the committee could violate the agreement with the police union and that the city needs to include the Fraternal Order of Police moving forward.
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