Tulsa Pastor Seeks To Bring Law Enforcement, Communities Together In New Program

A Tulsa pastor said now more than ever, it’s important for law enforcement and citizens to get to know one another and trust each other again.

He’s created a program called Color Free, Crime Free. He talked to some area churches and law enforcement agencies about the program on Tuesday.

With so much national negativity toward law enforcement, this program is aimed at stopping any sort of violence before it can even start.

Dr. Howard Hatcher's brother died from gang violence when he was young, and that inspired Dr. Hatcher to spend years trying to help people and police have better relationships.

He's created a program called Color Free, Crime Free that offers law enforcement officers help with things like PTSD, diversity training, use of force training and mental health resources.

"It's holistic for the building of a community's overall strength," said Dr. Hatcher.

Hatcher approached Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton with his program months ago. That led to an event at Hatcher's church, where the sheriff and some of his staff spent hours talking to around 500 people and answering their questions. 

"His deal centers around honesty," said Walton. "We were able to talk about things nobody ever talks about, like skin color, and upbringings."

The other part of Dr. Hatcher's program is to bring law enforcement and churches together to get to know each other and learn to trust each other.

"Making sure citizens are heard by law enforcement," Hatcher said. 

Hatcher invited other churches and agencies to learn about his program and Destiny Life pastor John Ray loves the idea.

"Nobody wants to have the only time where you meet a law enforcement officer to be when his lights are on and he's pulling you over," Ray said.

Ultimately, Dr. Hatcher's goal is to make the whole community feel safer, so criminals go elsewhere.

The Rogers County Sheriff's office is part of the pilot program but eventually Dr. Hatcher wants to see it adopted all over the place.