Broken Arrow’s new police chief is focused on issues he says come with a growing community.
Lance Arnold was sworn in as the city’s police chief on Tuesday. Arnold was hired by Broken Arrow after serving as police chief of a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. Before that, Arnold was with the Norman Police Department for 20 years.
Arnold’s officers will enforce the law in a city with, according to municipal data, more than 117,000 residents.
"We’re starting to deal with an unhoused population. We’ve got mental health issues. You know, domestic violence has been an ongoing and growing issue in every community, and so those are the kind of issues we’ve got in (Broken Arrow) as well,” he said.
When it comes to domestic violence, Arnold said his officers are already looking at ways to address the issue. Broken Arrow has had 18 people killed in murder-suicides since October of 2022.
"Domestic violence is not one of those things that’s impacted, or can be reduced, by proactive patrol, right? But what it is is about relentless follow-up. It’s about making the right decisions and right actions, and finding people and getting them to safety, and getting them resources so they can get out of bad situations,” he said.
Broken Arrow police in 2024 launched a partnership with Grand Mental Health to send specialists to calls involving mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness, children in crisis and domestic disturbances with mental health components.
