OKC residents request police changes
Residents demanding "defunding" and "demilitarizing" of the Oklahoma City police dominated an hours-long teleconferenced public hearing on the police budget Tuesday.
Over about four hours, around four dozen callers spoke, questioning spending priorities and calling for transparent oversight, all in the context of a weekend of unrest over police killings of black men in Minneapolis and elsewhere. Observers say it's probably the longest discussion on race ever at the city council meeting.
"We're dealing with a community that's tired," said one caller, Gary Jones. "People are drained. People are furious."
Callers said they supported a demand made Monday by Black Lives Matter OKC for Chief Wade Gourley's resignation. City Manager Craig Freeman already had said Monday evening that he would not ask Gourley to resign.
Gourley took an hour to review a 2020-21 budget proposal that includes a 2.65% decrease in operating expenditures.
Proposed for fiscal 2021 is a reduction of 34 authorized uniform positions, saving $3.1 million, as well as cutting 12 civilian positions. All are vacant and no layoffs are expected.
Many callers criticized the department for being No. 2 among major cities for police killings per capita, a ranking based on data Gourley characterized as "extemely flawed."
In response toquesti ons from Ward 6 Council woman Jo Beth Hamon, Gourley said the information was incorrect and that the department had" drilled" into data relied on by the internet site promoting the list and found it was based on sources such as social media posts.
In remarks to Gourley, Ham on tied together policing, criminal justice and poverty.
She said the criminal justice system shames people, isolates them from family and other support, exposes them to violence, and leaves them with an inability to make a living.
"I just don't want that connection to be missed," she said.
Hannah Royce, president of the Oklahoma City Pride Alliance board, said tax dollars ought to be spent on alternatives to policing.
"We are begging you to see our humanity," said another caller.
Mayor David Holt questioned existing citizen oversight of police, a process Gourley described as administrative and not for the public.
Holt said current oversight maybe" too far behind the scenes."
The mayor called it a "a rising issue in our community. I think that' s something we need to talk about."
"I can't breathe," said Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice, alluding to stories some callers told of police interactions.
"I don't think Miss Luper sat in with those children for us to shut up," Nice said. OneOKC, the slogan Holt ran on two years ago, begins with listening, she said.
G our ley said police departments — as agencies on duty 24 hours a day — have been saddled with tasks that have a minimal relationship to policing.
"We were never designed to be social workers. We were never designed to be mental health workers," he said. "Everything we do is about the community."