Two City Councilors Speak Out

Tulsa's new police chief has only been on the job two days and already, a couple of city councilors are asking for his removal tonight. The two men say Ron Palmer is bad for race relations in North

Thursday, September 6th 2007, 9:09 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa's new police chief has only been on the job two days and already, a couple of city councilors are asking for his removal tonight. The two men say Ron Palmer is bad for race relations in North Tulsa reported News on six crime reporter Lori Fullbright.
Roscoe Turner and Jack Henderson, both are Tulsa city councilors, held a news conference to announce they were against the upcoming river tax vote, against Chief Palmer and for black officers and for North Tulsa.

Chief Palmer says he sure hoped people would give him a chance to prove himself before calling for his ouster.

Ron Palmer took over as Tulsa's police chief in 1992. Two year later, a black officer, filed a lawsuit claiming departmental discrimination. Six years later, it was made a class action lawsuit. It was settled out of court without a finding of racism. The settlement was approved in 2003, a year after Chief Palmer retired.

The settlement is known as the consent decree, which mandates several things the department must do.

That decree cost taxpayers six million dollars; two million to the officers' attorneys, two million for the city to make its case and two million to put the requirements into place.

City Councilors Roscoe Turner and Jack Henderson say they don't want the same leadership that led to the decree to come back for another round.
Roscoe Turner, Tulsa City Councilor said, "As Will Shakespeare said, don't trust the person whose broken faith once. This officer has broken trust of the North Tulsa community in the past."

Jack Henderson, Tulsa City Councilor said, "It's almost like sending us back 40 years in race relations in this city. For anybody to do what he did to black officers and the community and expect to come back and for us to reach out and welcome him back to continue doing what he did to us, is totally ridiculous."

Chief Ron Palmer, Tulsa Police, says he is ready for a fresh start and points to the good relationships he had in North Tulsa before and his willingness to create new ones now. He also says he was hoping to have more than two days on the job to prove it.

"I have to prove myself to everyone that the police department is concerned about race issues and we can work with everyone, councilors, citizens, administration alike. We're not an entity unto ourselves. This is a new day, a new dawning and it's a great opportunity to move forward, if people will allow that to happen," stated Chief Ron Palmer, Tulsa Police.

Before today, Palmer had already scheduled meetings with the black officersâ€™ coalition and some North Tulsa leaders.

For the mayor's take on all this, read her statement:

"Chief Palmer has a decade of public service to this city, a record of reduced crime rates and a sincere willingness to serve Tulsa again as Police Chief.

Together, we are making so much progress in this city. We should not return to political bickering. Every neighborhood in this city deserves to be safe and we are committed to working toward that goal.

Chief Palmer has been on the job for three days now. I would ask that these two councilors put personal history aside and give him a chance to lead our fine Tulsa Police officers and partner with us in identifying public safety priorities that will make every neighborhood safe, keep kids out of gangs and make sure seniors feel safe in their homes."

Kathy Taylor, Mayor of Tulsa