Oklahoma City works to reform police force after Black Lives Matter protests

Amna Nawaz:

The killing of George Floyd in 2020 sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and calls for police reform.

Among America's large police departments, Oklahoma City ranked second in the country for the rate of people killed by officers. In March of this year, they began implementing major reforms.

Communities correspondent Adam Kemp has been reporting on those changes. He joins me now.

And welcome back. It's good to see you.

Let's start with some of those changes. What led to them in the first place and where do they stand in terms of being implemented now?

Adam Kemp:

Right.

So, like most of the country, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Oklahoma City saw many nights of protests and demonstrations. For 10 straight nights, in fact, Oklahoma City activists stood outside of police headquarters and really demanded accountability for some of those stats that you mentioned, Amna.

From there, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said he kind of recognized that a change was happening and needed to be made. So he gathered some local activists, some law enforcement officials, as well as city officials, and they had some meetings to really address police change and accountability here in Oklahoma.

From there, they formed a task force and started a review of Oklahoma City police with the help of an outside firm, 21CP Solutions, who — they together crafted 39 recommendations kind of focusing in on eight areas of improvement for Oklahoma City police. In March, they accepted those changes, like you said, and have already begun implementing several of those changes, including a dedicated response team for mental health, crises.

They have hired 47 new officers that are trained in crisis intervention, and they're in the process right now of hiring a mental health professional to work with Oklahoma City police officers as part of their daily units.

Amna Nawaz:

So, Adam, I have to ask. Oklahoma is a pretty conservative state, I think it's fair to say. A lot of these calls for police reform tend to move forward through more liberal areas.

So how is it that the capital city was able to move forward with these reforms?

Adam Kemp:

Right.

Well, Oklahoma is definitely a right leaning state. Mayor David Holt would tell you that Oklahoma City is pretty purple in its politics. He said, people were very willing, police activists, community leaders, to really come together and listen to each other.

I spoke with Ganesha Martin of 21CP Solutions, who is kind of helping lead and checking in on Oakland city police as these changes are being made. And she says that's often the hardest part is taking that first step.

Ganesha Martin, 21CP Solutions: I do this work across the country. And there are people who say they're going to do the work and then don't show up.

What I have to say about Oklahoma City up to this point is, they have been showing up. I think that where we are right now is very promising. I am excited about where we're going to go. And some of these things could even end up working towards being national best practices.

Amna Nawaz:

Adam, I heard her say there it's very promising. It's been six months since they started implementing the reforms. Is there any way to tell if it's working?

Adam Kemp:

Right.

After speaking with Martin, who, interestingly enough, worked in the city of Baltimore for the Baltimore Police Department and was — served as the point person between the U.S. Justice Department and Baltimore police in the investigation following Freddie Gray's death in 2015.

She has a lot of experience seeing these changes get made in different areas of the country and says that this change is slow, and changes come in incremental kind of waves. She's says she's seen a lot of promising things so far and is just now starting her initial review of Oklahoma City police. Police say they are working diligently to make every change happen.

Some other interesting changes from around the city that seem to be pointing in the right direction, Oklahoma City Council is accepting proposals right now for an alternative response team to 911 calls for those experiencing homelessness. And they just recently reestablished their Human Rights Commission to better hear citizen concerns.

Amna Nawaz:

And we know it's a story you are going to stick with ahead.

That is our communities correspondent, Adam Kemp, reporting for us from Oklahoma City.

Adam, thank you.

Adam Kemp:

Thank you.

Amna Nawaz:

And you can read more of Adam's reporting on our Web site. That is PBS.org/NewsHour.