City councilors got an update this week on the Tulsa Police Department's community policing initiatives.
Tulsa police said they’ve had a lot of success building relationships through Project Trust, a program launched in 2017 that puts officers in high-school classrooms once a week for eight to 10 weeks to talk to students about topics like how to interact with police.
Anonymous surveys show most kids come away with a more positive perception of police. City Councilor Kara Joy McKee said that’s a good start.
"When we were meeting with juveniles about juvenile arrests and whatnot and kids are saying to us, 'Police just see us as thugs and hoodlums,' it’s really helpful for us to be able to say, 'Well, here’s what the TPD’s doing about that, and we’re building those relationships and it goes both ways,'" McKee said.
Capt. Tom Bell said officers are getting something out of Project Trust, too.
"I’ve never had an officer that’s told me they’ve had anything but a very positive experience participating in this program, and I think it’s very healthy for officers to be involved in community policing in a non-enforcement capacity. It’s a morale booster," Bell said.
Project Trust is one of TPD's programs focused on building relationships with youths. The Reading Patrol program aims to boost literacy while at-risk kids interact with officers before police respond to a problem at their home, which can be a scary time.
TPD officials said they’re pushing the importance of community policing early and often. Training division Maj. Ryan Perkins said cadets in the academy are required to get involved with at least three community events before graduation.
"I want them to come to an event where they’re interacting with citizens in a way that they get to represent the police department, and many times that is working through the council’s districts and coming out to an event and serving hot dogs to kids or doing those kinds of things," Perkins said.
Cadets participate in Tulsa’s polar plunge each year, which raises money for the Special Olympics. Perkins said they end up accounting for about half the money raised.
Police officials, however, said they’re still too short-staffed to spend as much time on community policing initiatives as they’d like to. They expect it will take three or four more years of hiring funded by the city's public safety tax before they hit a recommended staffing level.
