Policing panel has broad mix

City Manager Craig Freeman this week announced the members of a 12-person group that will study policing reforms in Oklahoma City. The panel comprises a broad array of professionals that should prove beneficial.

This effort stems from a resolution by Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper that was approved by the city council in June. Members will focus on six areas: training for police officers in crisis response; access to mental health services for police officers; alternative responses to mental health calls; youth outreach; expansion of homeless outreach initiatives, and creation of a neighborhood safety/violence interruption program.

Police Chief Wade Gourley has a seat at the table, as do Majs. Ron Bacy and Vashina Butler. Bacy and Butler are Black.

The panel includes two local African-American pastors, the Rev. James Dunbar of Greater Cleaves Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the Rev. Michael McDaniel of Northeast Missionary Baptist Church. Garland Pruitt, head of the Oklahoma City branch of the NAACP, is part of the group.

Also included are businesswoman Erika Lucas, whose firm helps launch startup companies; poet and activist Grace Franklin, co-founder of OKC Artists for Justice; Tim Tardibono, director of the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council; Paula Sophia, a transgender advocate and former police officer; and LaShawn Thompson, municipal court administrator. Assistant City Manager Kenton Tsoodle is group facilitator.

“We expect benefits across our community,” Freeman said, “especially for our most vulnerable residents, and also for police officers performing a difficult job.”

The working group's recommendations are expected in 2021, and will be closely followed. We wish them good luck.

Unsurprising result in open records request

In October 2018, The Oklahoman asked the University of Oklahoma for copies of “bias incidents” reported during a two-year span. Twenty months later, OU's open records office emailed to say it couldn't fulfill the request because the information provided would be confidential under the state's Open Records Act (OU did provide redacted initial reporting documents). As reporter Josh Dulaney wrote this week, the newspaper asked again for information related to the incidents, to be fulfilled by July 6. OU said it could not meet that deadline in part because its open records office has just three employees who stay covered up with requests. Alas, this saga is not surprising. Stories like this involving public entities large and small are far too common in Oklahoma.

Mail-in balloting not without its problems

President Trump got upset this week after the Nevada legislature approved a bill to send mail-in ballots to all voters. Trump had caused a firestorm last week with a tweet asking whether to delay the Nov. 3 election over concerns about universal mail-in balloting. The suggestion was rightly denounced by Republicans and Democrats alike — the election date will not change, nor should it. And Trump is wrong to say the election will be “rigged.” However, there can be problems with mail-in ballots. A recent all-mail election in Paterson, New Jersey, saw 20% of ballots get disqualified for various reasons. Results of a congressional primary in New York on June 23 are being litigated; there, mail-in votes could arrive a week late and still be considered valid if postmarked by Election Day. Oklahoma requires mailed ballots be returned by the time polls close. That's an approach more states should adopt to help ensure a timely tallying.

A bit of welcome tolerance on anthem choices

Jonathan Isaac of the NBA's Orlando Magic tore his ACL, a season-ending injury, just a few days after being the only member of his team to stand during the playing of the national anthem. This prompted the Dan Le Batard show on ESPN Radio to tweet a poll asking listeners, “Is it funny that the guy who refused to kneel immediately blew out his knee?” The answer was no, and the show soon deleted the tweet. Le Batard acknowledged, “we missed the mark.” San Antonio Spurs player DeMar DeRozan, meanwhile, hit the mark after his coach, Gregg Popovich, and assistant Becky Hammon chose to stand: “So everybody has their own right of making a statement, and you can't vilify nobody for not doing what the other group is doing.” Well said.