The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it’s displacing long-standing homeless camps in Tulsa so that the people who live in them don’t get hit by cars.
In an update conducted on the side of Highway 75 and North Peoria Avenue, OHP Lt. Mark Southall told press “Operation Swift Action for Families Everywhere” is on day seven and troopers have cleared 64 homeless camps.
“The intent of this operation was to move these people away from dangerous highways and interstate systems,” Southall said.
No one has gone to jail, Southall said, and only one person has “accepted services.” Southall acknowledged to Public Radio Tulsa that uprooting homeless camps without clear direction as to where people might go could create a different public safety issue.
“We cannot solve the problem of homelessness by ourselves.”
When pressed that OHP is not making the situation any better, Southall said his worry is pedestrian safety.
“Let me tell you what is going on here: so homelessness is a bigger issue. The more important issue is these people getting hit by cars.”
When asked for an example of someone getting hit by a car, Southall said a woman wandering in traffic was killed in Oklahoma City after being struck by a motorcycle. When pushed to give a Tulsa example, Southall said “almost all auto pedestrian crashes that we worked here in Oklahoma, on these interstates in Tulsa specifically, involved a homeless person.”
Southall said OHP has not coordinated with the city because OHP is operating under a state law enacted in 2024 barring unauthorized camping on public land.
20-25 troopers per day are involved in Operation SAFE, which was begun by Gov. Kevin Stitt last week when he announced he was empowering OHP to clear Tulsa’s camps.
Stitt has criticized Tulsa’s response to homelessness, which has grown to record levels across the country due to housing shortages, immigration, and wages not keeping up with rent. Most recently, Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen questioned Stitt's claim of poor planning from the city.
