In a move Mayor G.T. Bynum has cited as one reason he no longer plans to pursue an office of the independent monitor, the Tulsa Police Department will soon implement its first internal Use of Force Review Board — once the city’s recovery from the ransomware attack lets loose some key software.
Officials say they expect that green light to come sooner rather than later, and Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin recently discussed the development at a Tulsa World Editorial Board meeting.
A Deadly Force Review Board has been in place at the department for as long as the chief can remember, and a Pursuit Review Board in place for several years has largely shaped the policy still in place today.
But as Franklin devised what he wanted to implement after taking office in February 2020, he realized a large swath of uses of force were missing that holistic review.
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“If we are going to dig that deep with pursuits — because pursuits are a level of force — then we need to do the same with our use of force,” Franklin said.
He appointed Matt Kirkland, TPD’s director of planning, policy and quality control, to form the board, and they say it’s ready to meet as soon as certain software housing administrative documents recovers from the ransomware attack on the city.
Traditionally, all documented uses of force individually made their way up their respective chains of command for review. If at any point there was concern that an officer violated policy in letter or spirit, the report was diverted to Internal Affairs.
The same function will continue to take place, but the Use of Force Review Board will take a look at qualifying advanced uses of force as a whole to identify successes and failures in training and execution while informing policy, Kirkland said.
Advanced uses of force are defined as those that have a low expectation of great bodily injury or death but some possibility of injury and could involve some pain compliance techniques — such as baton use, canine bites or pepper balls launched at an individual.
Although deployments of conducted electrical weapons qualify as advanced uses of force, the board will not review them, Kirkland said, for there are simply too many. However, any use of force, regardless of level, can be referred to the board for review if a member of the command chain determines it should be, including stun gun deployments.
The Use of Force Review Board includes the operations bureau deputy chief, director of planning, policy and quality control, training division commander, Special Operations Team commander, defensive tactics lead instructor, K-9 Unit lieutenant, and respective division commander.
Disciplinary investigations will remain under the purview of Internal Affairs, but the board is expected to help TPD leaders identify when officers might need redirection short of discipline, such as remedial training, or when policy is or isn’t effectively translating into patrol realities.
“What we’re doing is extending that greater level of review into some of the advanced uses of force,” Kirkland said. “This is not about cases we think went bad. This is about looking at all of those incidents for areas to improve upon and opportunities to build on.”
When an officer uses force
When a Tulsa Police officer uses force in the course of his or her duties, departmental policy directs the following steps:
- The officer summons a supervisor to the scene
- The officer completes a use of force report
- Their lieutenant or immediate supervisor reviews the report
- The captain of their shift reviews the report
- The major of their division reviews the report
The report may be forwarded to Internal Affairs at any point in the command chain of review if there is concern departmental policy was violated in letter or spirit.
When the internal Use of Force Review Board is implemented, any qualifying advanced use of force report that passes the command chain review will be directed to the Board for further review.
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