Police Officers Meet With Tulsa Students To 'Break Down Barriers'

Tulsa Police and Tulsa Public Schools Police took part in a youth forum with 100 high school students Friday.

The agenda was simply to answer questions from students and explain some things officers do during encounters with citizens. The annual event was held online for the last two years because of the pandemic, but was in person Friday at the Tulsa Public Schools service center.

Students were told about what police do, and expect during traffic stops, and why some stops escalate to searches and arrests.

Officers sat down with groups from each high school to answer questions, ranging from drugs and guns to social media and suicides.

Chief Matthias Wick of the TPS Police Department said “We need young people, they're looking for us to keep them safe so they can get through their educational journey, so this is a good chance to get our thoughts together because we're all on the same team.”