Published as: "More work needed to improve Tulsa police relations with marginalized communities, CNA report shows" on May 6, 2022
he Tulsa Police Department is making plans to improve community policing after an evaluation from research firm CNA showed areas on which the department needs to improve.
A survey conducted in Tulsa during the firm’s research indicated the Police Department is viewed as having more negative relations with marginalized communities than positive, and a majority of Black and Native American survey respondents said their communities have little or no faith in the Police Department.
CNA presented their findings and a summary of 54 recommendations for improvement to city, police and community leaders Thursday night on Zoom, and Tulsa Police Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish addressed several short-term goals the department has to improve community policing in Tulsa.
Hildy Saizow, a senior advisor at CNA and a former Tulsan, provided several ways in which Tulsa police can improve their organizational structure to be more suitable to community policing.
“An issue we heard a lot about in our consultation (with stakeholders) is the organizational culture in TPD,” Saizow said. “A culture that is deeply embedded, but one that needs to change and transform from a ‘warrior mindset’ focused on enforcement to placing a higher priority on service and building positive relationships with the community.”
The Tulsa community, Saizow said, made it clear that they want more positive and authentic engagement from Tulsa police officers.
People would like officers to show empathy and that they care about the community they’re working in; and they would like the Police Department to provide more resources rather than just make arrests in certain communities.
Saizow then addressed the community survey.
Posed the the statement of “my community has trust in the TPD,” 68 percent of Black survey respondents said their community has little or no faith in the department.
Of Native American respondents, 52 percent said their community has little or no faith in the department.
The survey also asked its 473 respondents how they viewed relations between the department and different communities.
The department was viewed as having more negative relations with communities of immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, LGBTQIA people, non-English speakers, the homeless, disabled people, people under 18 years old and people with mental health conditions.
The only communities the police were viewed as having a positive relationship with were religious groups, white people and people over 65 years old.
Another area of focus CNA presented was transparency and openness.
Survey respondents and stakeholders said they either did not know what the department’s Community Advisory Board did or who were members of the boards, Saizow said.
She also said survey respondents indicated they want the department to provide more opportunities for community input and provide more training on community policing.
After CNA’s presentation, Dalgleish addressed the evaluation and ways in which they can improve community policing and explained what short-term goals the department will enact to improve.
“As you can imagine, 54 recommendations, some of which have their own barriers, are going to take a longer time to establish our ability to do,” Dalgleish said. “What we did was immediately triaged the report, tried to align what we already have under way and how we can strengthen those efforts, and what new initiatives and recommendations we can take on.”
Trust and legitimacy will be addressed by adding more foot and bike patrols in marginalized neighborhoods to create visibility, Dalgleish said.
Dalgleish said Police Chief Wendell Franklin, who did not appear to be in attendance at the presentation, will also host town hall meetings around Tulsa to hear from community members on what they want to see.
“The chief has already had that on his white board as a to do,” Dalgleish said. “We have that as a priority,” but in the past, they have had problems with low turnout to similar meetings.
Dalgleish also said they will address specific community policing and crime reduction steps by utilizing the SARA: Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment, model of policing to create data-driven plans for policing in high-crime and marginalized areas.
They will also work with outside vendors to update police academy training to include community policing practices.
Other short-term areas of focus include building on social media presences, prioritizing officer mental health and reviewing policies in the field.
The full Action Steps for the Tulsa Police Department can be found at Tulsapolicenews.org.