Tulsan to introduce police oversight bill

A Democratic legislator from Tulsa said Wednesday he will spend the coming months trying to build bipartisan support for legislation that would increase state oversight of law enforcement entities.

Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa, outlined his vision for legislation to be introduced ahead of the 2021 legislative session.

His announcement comes as protests across the country have popped up following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25. The protests have local, state and federal politicians across the country talking about how to reform law enforcement entities and increase oversight and transparency.

"We do have a system that is fundamentally flawed and desperately needs to change," said Nichols, who is black.

Nichols' suggestions for legislation include:

•Create the Office of Independent Monitor within the Oklahoma Attorney General' s Office to review cases in which a citizen dies dues to action or inaction by law enforcement.

• Create the Oklahoma State Law Enforcement Standards and Training Task force to study community policing standards and training, examine use-of-force policies and make legislative recommendations to standardize law enforcement training.

• Require law enforcement agencies to report officer resignations during internal investigations and flag those officers.

Nichols, whose father was a police officer in Houston, also seeks more transparency in cases of excessive force or death while in the custody of Oklahoma law enforcement.

He stressed that these ideas are just the starting point for legislation. Nichols did not call for defunding the police, which has become a rallying cry for some activist groups in recent days.

Oklahoma' s Legislature doesn't appropriate money to local police forces or sheriff's offices. The Legislature does, however, fund the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Nichols expressed confidence that he can get some Republican support for the legislative ideas he hopes to explore in an interim study this summer.

"I think it' s clear across the country that things have changed," he said. "When you see national political figures, like Mitt Romney, marching in a (Washington,) D.C protest, I think it's clear that the ground has shifted on these issues quite a bit."

When Gov. Kevin Stitt asked local law enforcement officers what elected officials could do to help in light of the current unrest, Moore Police Chief Todd Gibson suggested Stitt and legislators look at increasing standards for people seeking to join law enforcement agencies.

Nichols, who is up for reelection this year, faces a primary challenger in Maria Barnes of Tulsa.