Historically, Eugene Field (EF) and River West have experienced decades of disinvestment due to their isolated geography, largely working-class population, proximity to large industrial facilities including the main railroad connection, and Tulsa’s marque oil refineries. While EF is located less than one mile from the downtown core and is separated by the Arkansas River, residents have historically been relocated to work at these industrial facilities.

The neighborhood is dominated by severely distressed subsidized housing, all situated in super blocks that are unfriendly to pedestrian traffic. The neighborhood consists of the public housing properties Riverview Park Apartments and LaFortune Tower, as well as the Section 8 affordable housing complexes of Brightwaters Apartments and Western Pines. Residents have experienced low rates of mobility to homeownership in the neighborhood. Today, some of EF’s major challenges include a lack of high-quality housing and scarce retail and commercial activity. Residents lack access to high quality food sources and low pedestrian connectivity.

EF’s resident demographics are distinct from the greater Tulsa metropolitan surrounding area (MSA), primarily in the ratio of white to non-white residents. While Tulsa has a 72 percent white population, EF has a 54 percent White, 22 percent Black, and 24 percent Latino population, respectively. EF has a median age group that is younger than the overall city, with 29 percent of the population between ages 25-44 compared to Tulsa MSA’s 26.3 percent. EF’s median income is significantly lower than the rest of Tulsa at $17,934. According to the 2015 American Community Survey, Tulsa MSA’s median income was roughly 1.5 times higher at $50,023. Just over 53 percent of residents in EF live below the poverty rate and unemployment is approximately 5 times higher than Tulsa MSA (18.3 percent).

While the EF neighborhood consists of 0.8 percent of the population of the City of Tulsa, it sustains 2 percent of all violent crimes within the city. Violent crimes in the community have increased at a rate of 12 percent since 2017 compared to a decrease of 3 percent across the city. The community accounted for 1 percent of all calls for service for the city, with substantial increases over the past two years: disturbances, assaults, assaults involving a weapon, assaults involving a deadly weapons, burglary, and suspicious activity increased by 12 percent, 25 percent, 9 percent, 33 percent, 16 percent, and 23 percent, respectively.

The City of Tulsa’s main goals are to reduce violent and property crimes, increase community engagement, increase the capacity of resident-driven crime reduction measures, and enhance neighborhood safety.

Using a continuum of policing strategies to address serious and violent crime, this project will focus on activities that center on youth enrichment and education, crime prevention through community engagement and education, crime prevention and enforcement through engagement and accessibility, and crime enforcement through investigation and data-driven precision.

The project plans to address these items through the following strategies:

• Extensive community engagement and social services established through the Choice Neighborhood Grant by using the Community Engagement Unit to develop and implement programs to address juvenile delinquency through after-school and summer activities.
• School and community resource officer programs to ensure consistent presence inside the schools and throughout the community to facilitate drug and gang resistance educational programs, lead micro-area community forums, and support neighborhood watch meetings.
• A community-oriented policing model via a newly formed bike patrol team to provide intentional outreach.
• The Special Investigations Division will provide data-driven, placed-based patrols to address crime gun incidents, organized gang activity, narcotics, and human trafficking.

Using a continuum of policing strategies to address serious and violent crime, community-police trust, and neighborhood crime prevention sustainability, this project will focus on youth outreach and neighborhood engagement, crime prevention education, and data-driven enforcement. The goals of this project are to reduce Part One crimes, increase police-community trust, and increase the capacity of residents for crime prevention measures. The strategies to achieve these goals are as follows: Engage, Educate, Enforce

Engage:

• Utilize stakeholders to inform and plan interventions 
• Increase accessibility to report crime by providing foot and bike patrols 
• Increase visibility through planned events and patrols
• Build relationships with stakeholders through outreach, events, and police services
• Increase civic engagement through technology and social media platforms
• Partner with identified assets in the neighborhood
• Increase social connectedness among neighborhood residents 
• Focus on youth engagement
• Collaborate with social service agencies to address root causes of crime 

Educate:

• Provide current crime information on the neighborhood 
• Provide information on how to report a crime or suspicious activity
• Educate victims and witnesses on their role in prosecuting offenders of crime
• Conduct Town Hall meetings on current issues
• Create informational sessions on Tulsa Police Department (TPD) policing practices, policies, and training
• Educate the neighborhood about the complaint and commendation process including timelines and possible outcomes
• Provide crime prevention safety tips to businesses and personal safety tips to residents
• Provide information about and referrals to community resources and diversion programs
• Provide education on the appropriate use of 211, 311, 988, and 911

Enforce: 

• Provide electronic surveillance 
• Provide data driven proactive policing 
• Conduct comprehensive investigations 
• Follow up with victims' crime reports and neighbors' crime tips and report back 
• Utilize the Victim Services Unit (VSU) for victims of violent crimes
• Ensure compliance and accountability of TPD body worn cameras, use of force and unbiased policing policies
• Collaborate with COT Working in Neighborhoods and others for private property nuisance complaints 
• Encourage the use of privately owned surveillance cameras 
• Institute a neighborhood watch program 

Tulsa Police Department, City of Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, Northern Oklahoma U.S. Attorney Trent Shores, Tulsa Housing Authority