NCJ Number
91614
Date Published
1981
Length
157 pages
Annotation
This report assesses the status of police-citizen relations in Oklahoma and makes recommendations for improvement.
Abstract
The following general areas of concern were examined: the extent and ways in which Oklahoma citizens perceive a problem in police-citizen relations; the adequacy of present laws in ensuring the protection of life and the preservation of civil rights; the impartiality of investigations of alleged police crimes; and the mechanisms that communities can activate to improve police-citizen relations. Study activities included examining the historical role of the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission; defining areas of recent, identifiable problems; monitoring local and national media treatment of police-citizen relations; conducting interviews with citizen group leaders and law enforcement officers; and researching existing literature. The principal recommendation of the report is that the State legislature pass legislation to restrict police use of deadly force and set the minimum police training hours at 300. It also recommends that the attorney general of the State render a definitive opinion on ambiguities in the law regarding the protection of public welfare and assume jurisdiction in the investigation and prosecution of serious cases of police misconduct. Another recommendation concerns better programs to deal with police stress. Communities are urged to implement citizen advisory groups to cooperate with the police in the formulation of community policy and to participate in the administrative process of reviewing complaints of police misconduct. A total of 85 notes are given; study materials are appended.