Mayoral debate sparks police discussion, spats over political mailers

Tulsa’s mayoral candidates took the debate stage Tuesday night for the final time before the election.

Either County Commissioner Karen Keith or State Representative Monroe Nichols — both Democrats — will win the mayor’s seat on Nov. 5.

At the debate, the candidates were asked about their goals in their first four-year term.

Keith said their goals were:

• Open an accessible homeless shelter in the first six months of your term
• Work with the Tulsa Police Department to crack down on panhandling
• Work with developers to build housing
• Full staffing of the Tulsa Police Department
• Create an incentive program for teachers to work in Tulsa

Nichols said his goals are:

• Build 6,000 affordable housing units
• Reduce plague by 60%
• Achieve “functional zero homelessness” in two years.
• Progress toward becoming the safest major city in the United States
• Create the Office of Children and Families for the City

Police inequalities

For the first time this election cycle, racial disparities in Tulsa policing were brought up on the debate stage.

According to the city’s equity indicators, Tulsa police stopped Black youth and adults at more than twice the rate of white youth and adults in 2023. She was also seven times more likely to use violence against black people than against white people.

When asked if and how she would close those disparities, Keith said she would leverage her relationship with Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen. She also mentioned her support from Tulsa’s Fraternal Order of Police.

“I would work hand in hand with them to ensure that these discrepancies are resolved,” she said.

Keith added that she would like to get a “deeper dive” into the use of force statistics and said police “clearly need to make some adjustments.”

Nichols said officials need to build trust with Tulsans.

“We really need to get back to community policing. Not only do we need to hire more officers, but we also need to make sure those officers are truly part of the community,” he said.

Nichols also suggested giving the youth in her neighborhood things to do “so they’re not just hanging out.”

The debate about juvenile detention centers continues

The Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice was once again the focus of Tuesday night’s mayoral debate.

Tulsa County officials, including Keith, are accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to protect detained youths from abuse by the center’s guards. Two guards were charged with sexually abusing teenagers at the center, and Homeland Security raided the center in July.

Commissioners claimed they were not responsible for the abuse because the center was overseen by the county’s juvenile court until it took over in July, even though they knew of state violations at the center as early as May 2022.

The lawsuit was highlighted in a mailer that Keith showed the audience. Keith accused Nichols of promoting the rhetoric used in the mailer.

Nichols said he first saw the mailer before the debate.

“There was a federal lawsuit naming the county commissioners. Don’t make it seem like I made this up, because I didn’t and I didn’t send out that mailer,” Nichols said.

Keith clarified that Nichols’ social media team brought up the lawsuit on social media.

“It doesn’t mean you put out this particular piece, it means the narrative,” she said.

Keith said she learned about the sexual abuse at the center when the general public learned about it this spring.

“If you have a rental home and your tenant goes out and robs a bank, are you responsible?” Keith said. “The judges decided that.”

The mayoral election will take place on November 5th. Check your polling place now on the State Election Commission website.