A group of concerned citizens calling itself Demanding a Just Tulsa has sent a letter to city councilors and Mayor G.T. Bynum calling for more transparency, more accessibility and more accountability in the City Council’s upcoming public hearings on the 2018 Equality Indicators Report.
The letter, which lists more than 100 signatories, also demands that Bynum and Police Chief Chuck Jordan attend all of the Equality Indicators meetings and that the council hold a fifth public meeting to assess whether community policing efforts have contributed to “decreasing racially discriminatory policing.”
Bynum’s proposal to establish an Office of the Independent Monitor was prompted in part to provide a tool for the city to review its community policing practices, ensure that best practices are being used, and to measure whether the program is working as intended.
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Among those listed as signatories on the letter was Pastor Ray Owens of Metropolitan Baptist Church. Owens said the findings of the Equality Indicators Report came as no surprise to many in the city’s African-American community.
His hope, he said, is that the meetings can lead to sustained and strategic efforts to correct the injustices outlined in the report.
“I want to be part of the work of really pressing our city leaders, and, frankly, all citizens in Tulsa, to take seriously the findings of the Equality Indicators Report ... ,” he said. “I am of the mind that until citizens really raise their voices and demand that our elected officials and people who serve in public office take this seriously, things won’t happen.
“Certainly they won’t happen in the kind of time frame that we believe it has to happen.”
Bynum confirmed Thursday that he received the letter.
“I received the letter and immediately replied to let Reverend (Ray) Owens know that I have always planned to attend these meetings, and that I am eager to hear what they yield,” the mayor said.
Tulsa Police Sgt. Shane Tuell said Jordan would attend the meetings he is required to attend.
“And the department will assign a subject-matter expert to provide the council with information upon their request,” Tuell said.
The City Council last month voted to hold four special meetings on the Equality Indicators Report, one each month from May through August. The report, issued by the city last year, found racial disparities in police practices, including that African-Americans are more likely to experience use of force at the hands of police officers than other races.
That assertion — which has been challenged by the Police Department and the union representing officers — and others prompted a call for the City Council to hold public hearings to examine how the report was put together, why the disparities in police practices exist, and what can be done to eliminate them.
The format for the special meetings calls for councilors to receive comments and questions from the public for an hour at their regularly scheduled Wednesday meetings at City Hall, with individuals limited to three minutes each.
Councilors would then use the public input to formulate their questions for panelists at the special meetings. The public would not be allowed to question panelists at the special meetings.
Each panelist, including the community representative, would have to be approved by a majority of councilors.
In its letter, Demanding a Just Tulsa praises the City Council for scheduling the meetings but insists on changes to the format.
“Our priorities are ensuring full community participation, transparency, and a robust examination of the policies, practices, and culture resulting in racial disparities in policing practices, including arrests and use of force,” the letter states.
The organization’s other proposed format changes include:
• Allowing the Greater Tulsa Area African-American Affairs Commission to select the community representative panelist.
• Holding Equality Indicators special meetings at a large, easily accessible venue.
• Holding public comment meetings on the Saturday morning before each special meeting.
• Allowing each speaker at the public comments meetings no fewer than five minutes.
• Requiring at least five councilors to be present at public comments meetings.
• Allowing residents to recommend panelists, and require city officials to explain why a resident’s recommended panelist was not chosen.
• Requiring at the end of the process that the city provide recommendations on police practices and policies to effectively address racial disparities in policing.
Councilors are expected to decide on the list of panelists for the May special meeting later this month.
The May special meeting will address racial and gender disparities in police arrests of adults.
Other topics to be discussed at the special meetings are: racial and gender disparities in police arrests of juveniles (June); racial disparities in police use of force (July); and minority and gender underrepresentation in the Police Department.
Councilor Lori Decter Wright, one of three councilors who helped develop the format for the special meetings, did not respond to a request for comment from the Tulsa World.
