After a fiery debate during a committee meeting Wednesday afternoon, Tulsa City Councilors opted to save their vote on whether to establish a public safety oversight office for a different day.
Councilors heard public comment from 10 speakers on the proposed ordinance — seven in favor and three against — but ultimately voted unanimously to continue the item to Oct. 14.
Karmen Glunt, whose brother, Michael Glunt, was shot and killed by police while experiencing a mental health crisis in February, said during public comment Tulsa has a pattern of “only doing the right thing when there’s public pressure.”
Debbie Tyler, Glunt’s mother, asked councilors to approve the oversight office.
“There has to be oversight to keep us alive and safe in the city. Without oversight, this is the real cost,” Tyler said, holding up a picture of her kneeling at her son’s coffin. “It’s real death. It ruins families.”
Sean McKenna, counsel for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93, told councilors the proposed ordinance is “legally premature, operationally redundant and structurally incapable of delivering the independence it promises.”
“An office that reports to the city is not independent, and it’s not meaningful accountability,” McKenna said.
Prior to making a motion to continue the item, Councilor Lori Decter Wright, who co-authored the oversight measure with Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, said she believes 10 years of waiting for police oversight is long enough.
“I hope that when we come back Wednesday, Oct. 14, we are earnest in our ability to take action on this proposal,” she said.
Hall-Harper: ‘A tactic to maintain the status quo’
Earlier in the day, during a Budget and Special Projects Committee, councilors Karen Gilbert and Christian Bengel asked their colleagues to “pump the brakes” on the ordinance presented last week.
Gilbert, who is executive director for the crime prevention nonprofit Tulsa Crime Stoppers, is drafting an ordinance of her own to create a citizen advisory board for public safety oversight. She said more time is needed to review the proposal.
“I am in favor of citizen oversight,” Gilbert said. “I cannot support independent oversight.”
Councilors Phil Lakin and Carol Bush, who leaves office in December, were not present at the meeting due to delayed flights.
Councilor Jackie Dutton pointed out that former Mayor G.T. Bynum created the Tulsa Commission on Community Policing a decade ago. It came after a previous push to establish an independent police monitor.
Members of that commission included Gilbert, Lakin, Hall-Harper, retiring Police Chief Dennis Larsen, newly appointed Police Chief Jonathan Brooks and Laurel Roberts, the mayor’s public safety commissioner.
“I’m concerned that this keeps getting pushed around and pushed about,” Dutton said. “When there are other measures that happen, the city council takes on immediately and deals with (it).”
Bengel said he has always opposed “this kind of oversight.”
“I don’t believe in Monday morning quarterbacking our public safety folks,” Bengel said.
Councilor Laura Bellis said city leaders often respond to public safety incidents rather than proactively seeking policy solutions.
“We’ve seen a lot of repeated trends that are concerning, and we should not pretend otherwise,” Bellis said.
Councilor Anthony Archie said he is “not opposed” to oversight and expressed concern about the number of lawsuit settlements paid out by the city related to law enforcement, but wants to give Brooks the opportunity to propose his own oversight plan.
Hall-Harper, who hosted a fireside chat with Brooks earlier this month, said she was willing to push the decision to another day as long as the procrastination ends sooner rather than later. During that conversation, Brooks told Hall-Harper that TPD already has “plenty of oversight.”
“Every chief has always said, ‘Well, give me a chance to make changes. Give me a chance to do something right,’ and it never happens,” Hall-Harper said Monday. “I’ve been here for 10 years, so I’m telling you, based on my experience, that it’s just a tactic to maintain the status quo.”
Decter Wright said she is not seeking unanimous approval.
“You need five votes to get to the mayor’s desk, and I believe if we do, the mayor will sign it,” she said.
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