Tulsa city councilors got their first look Wednesday at a plan to create an independent oversight office covering police, fire, emergency management and other public safety departments across the city — the latest attempt in a yearslong push that has repeatedly stalled at City Hall. The proposal comes with a full-time director, an 11-member civilian board and a roughly $500,000 annual price tag, and it could reach a final council vote next Wednesday, September 23.
What the Ordinance Would Actually Do
The ordinance, sponsored by District 1 Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper and District 7 Councilor Lori Decter Wright, would establish the Office of Independent Review and Oversight of Public Safety, according to News On 6. It would be led by a full-time director alongside the 11-member Civilian Oversight Board, and unlike past proposals aimed narrowly at policing, this one covers any city department performing public safety functions. As Tulsa World reports, those functions span law enforcement, fire prevention and suppression, rescue, hazardous materials response, 911, and emergency management. The office would exclude Tulsa's Municipal Court and any officials independently elected under the city charter, per the same News On 6 report.
The office would automatically step in to monitor and review a defined set of serious cases: deaths in custody, deadly force used against a person, duty-related deaths of public safety employees, conduct that could amount to a felony, use of force resulting in death or serious injury, and certain misdemeanor conduct involving force or threatened force. Even then, the station's report notes the office can only track an investigation's progress — it cannot direct investigators or take over a case, and its findings and recommendations are strictly advisory, leaving the department head with the final call.
Who Sits on the Board, and Who Can't
The Civilian Oversight Board would include one resident from each of Tulsa's nine council districts plus two at-large members, all nominated by the mayor and confirmed by City Council, the article notes. Board members cannot be current city employees or have immediate family who are current or former city employees, and the director cannot be a current or former public safety officer in the Tulsa metropolitan area or have immediate family who served in that role. The board's role would extend to recommending policy changes and evaluating whether the oversight system itself is working.
A History of Stalled Attempts
This isn't Tulsa's first swing at civilian oversight. Then-Mayor G.T. Bynum brought the concept to council as part of a 2019 budget request, and the council launched a five-point plan that year, but according to Tulsa Flyer, that 2019 policing oversight ordinance was placed on a September agenda and then pulled before a vote. The Fraternal Order of Police had opposed that version over concerns about collective bargaining rights and legal exposure, per the same News On 6 report; on the current version, the union said it was too early to comment.
A follow-up effort fared no better: a 2022 charter amendment that would have created an Office of Independent Monitoring was rejected by the council on a 7-2 vote on March 30, 2022, according to Tulsa Flyer. That came despite a 2022 council Trust and Accountability Working Group report that had recommended creating an independent monitoring entity. The version now before council covers all public safety departments, as did the 2022 proposal; it is broader than the 2019 attempt, which focused on police, News On 6 reports.
Settlements and a New Chief Weigh In
The renewed push arrives against a backdrop of costly litigation. Since November 2025, the Tulsa City Council has been presented with $47 million in claims to settle lawsuits, and the city has also faced fire-department lawsuits and code-enforcement appeals beyond police-related cases, according to a separate News On 6 report on rising settlement costs.
Newly named Tulsa Police Chief Jonathan Brooks, a 28-year department veteran who took the role in August, has said an independent monitor is not needed, arguing that the department already answers to the public safety commissioner, the mayor and the City Council. Hall-Harper has pushed back on that framing, saying existing layers of oversight have not solved Tulsa's trust problem, per News On 6's reporting.
What Happens Next
Wednesday's Public Works Committee discussion was the first of two required readings before the ordinance can advance to a final full-council vote, which could come as soon as September 23. Public safety spending is the largest line item in the city's general fund every year, the outlet notes, a scale that has fueled arguments on both sides of the oversight debate for years. Tulsa is not alone in weighing this kind of structure — nationally, 25 major U.S. cities launched civilian oversight agencies during 2020 and 2021 alone, and 71 of the 100 most populous U.S. cities now have some form of civilian oversight board, according to NonDoc. Those bodies vary widely in power; New York City's Civilian Complaint Review Board, for instance, can subpoena officers and witnesses on a $20 million annual budget, though NonDoc notes its recommendations still are not binding on the department.
