Tulsa Budget Committee Meeting: Curfew & Siren Protocols – July 29, 2026
Tulsa City Council Budget and Special Projects Committee Meeting – July 29, 2026
The committee met on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 1:00 PM to discuss two items: an update on the Downtown Curfew Ordinance and protocols for siren deployment during emergencies. Public Safety Commissioner representatives provided data and answered questions from council members. No formal votes were taken; the committee directed staff to provide additional data and explore policy improvements.
Discussion: Downtown Curfew Ordinance Update
- Deputy Chief Wilmerhauser and Captain Seibert presented data on curfew citations from July 2025 through July 20, 2026. A total of 33 citations were issued, with a spike of 16 citations from one large party in February 2026. Excluding that anomaly, the average is about 3 citations per month. The youngest cited was 11 years old; ages ranged from 12 to 17. The racial breakdown showed 16 African American males cited (all from the February party), raising concerns about disparate impact. Councilor Dutton noted that after removing the 16, the remaining 11 African American and 6 others would be closer to 50% each, but she still expressed concern and requested a deeper dive into each citation.
- Councilor Dr. Wright asked about curfew enforcement outside the Inner Dispersal Loop (IDL) and requested comparative data. She also inquired about diversion programs for youth, noting that few organizations operate late-night hours. Councilor Bellis mentioned that the Gathering Place conducted an audit of youth-serving organizations and found a gap in services for teens, especially during late hours. Councilor Bangle noted that the 33 citations compared to the “hundreds” of youth initially described as loitering downtown suggests the ordinance is working, and he asked for a comparative analysis of engagements versus citations to show evenhanded enforcement.
- TPD reported that the curfew has helped free up officers for violent crime suppression, and that gun violence in the IDL is down this summer compared to last. They also noted that most youth comply after a warning. The committee agreed to continue quarterly reports and to explore adding Thursday to the current Friday/Saturday curfew (which had been reduced from Thursday–Sunday after school started).
Discussion: Siren Deployment Protocols
- Councilor Gilbert initiated the discussion after the July 4th storm, where street flooding occurred but no sirens were activated. The public safety commissioner’s office explained that Tulsa’s sirens have three tones: a steady tone for tornadoes, a wavering tone for nuclear attack, and a high-low tone for catastrophic flooding (e.g., levee breach). Sirens are not used for street flooding because it could be confused with tornado warnings and lead to dangerous behavior (seeking low ground vs. high ground). The July 4th event had strong wind gusts but no tornado warning within city limits, so sirens were not activated.
- Councilor Dr. Wright asked about wireless emergency alerts; the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, which would have been pushed to phones. Councilor Bangle asked about the age of sirens and replacement plans; staff confirmed they are maintained and replaced at end of life. Councilor Dutton suggested that the city could do more to inform the public about flood-prone areas and “turn around, don’t drown” messaging, and noted that September is National Preparedness Month. The new emergency manager, Adam Woodard, will start on August 23 and will integrate with communications efforts.
Key Outcomes
- TPD will provide a deeper demographic analysis of all curfew citations, including a breakdown by race, gender, and age, and will report on whether any youth were cited multiple times.
- TPD will provide comparative data on curfew enforcement outside the IDL for the same period.
- The committee will consider expanding the curfew to include Thursday nights based on future data.
- The committee directed staff to work with the Office of Children, Youth and Families and other partners to identify and promote diversion programs for youth.
- TPD will share best practices from downtown deployment with other operational bureaus during the August shift change.
- The city’s communications team will continue public education on flood risks and siren meanings, and will coordinate with the council on outreach efforts.
- No formal action was taken on siren protocols; the committee accepted the explanation and will monitor future events.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. We're lying. Welcome to the one PM budget and special projects committee meeting. Today is Wednesday, July twenty-ninth. Item number one, I call this meeting to order item number two, discussion with the public safety commissioner or her designee regarding an update on the downtown curfew ordinance. This is Counselor Juton's item. These years have seen better days. Counselor Gilbert. I think the last time we were here was February, uh, maybe March. We can address those again as well. But these are our most current numbers through July 20th on a monthly basis for the number of downtown curfew violations citations that have been written. So actually the summer months, so the June and the July, where we saw an uptick last year, uh, are actually lower than we saw during the school year. So I think that that's a positive uh success and step in the right direction. And then we wouldn't keep if you want it. This one or keep going. Um so this one is obviously just a demonstration between uh a citation versus physical arrest, and we can talk about the February being an anomaly as well. That was a a party that kind of spilled out into to downtown, but like so we can address it, and is there we're not gonna take it? Oh, you can a map breakdown of inside the IDL where we're seeing the most activity and the citations are written. Um I don't think any of this is probably a surprise to anyone. These are our primary uh late night hot spots, entertainments, bars, event centers, um places where we have seen the gathering, parking lots were um we've had some problems in the past, but uh the hotspot map and then the addresses as well, and then we have a demographic breakdown uh uh age of arrestee being 11, the youngest, um, or and then citations written as well, anywhere from 12 to 17 years old with the breakdown um of male, female, and then uh a racial breakdown still question about sure. I I've got counselor Dutton first and then so I will if there's anything that Deputy Chief Wilmerhauser or Captain Seibert want to add before we go into questions, sure is there yeah. I I think if you're looking at the point of is this a success or not? Um again, I think taking out the anomaly, and uh I think when counselor Archie, when we spoke, you know, the goal was never mass amounts of enforcement, and so I think it being very low numbers, and I think it's averaging like three a month or so-ish uh when you take out that that party and the successes, the the anecdotal information we're receiving from bar owners from our officers, it is good. We are able to keep large crowds of kids from uh gathering in areas where there's literally nothing for them to do except uh potentially become a victim of crime or uh be a uh potential violator of that. So it all it's been a huge success for us to keep downtown safe, and also I really appreciate the fact that it was done last year because I don't know if you guys have kind of monitored the um events around the nation and a lot of other cities this spring and summer have had to quicken act uh similar ordinances to prevent some because they had huge team takeovers, uh they're now having to go back and do some of that stuff as well. So anyways, just want to say thanks. Okay, absolutely. Thank you for that. Uh Councillor Dutton. Yeah, can we scroll back to yes, the addresses offered? So I'm I'm looking. Some of these are out west. That one that had the most amount that one time was that from a uh BB that had been spilled out into that was that family party that people I think it grew larger than they were expecting, and then it poured out into some fights and everything, and that's captured most of those okay. Are all captured in the 600 East Archer, the one North Greenwood, and I think the 100 North Elgin. Um I think that that takes out pretty much all of those. Okay, yeah, they're all generally where this is right here. Okay, and then if we could scroll back to the breakdown of I'm sorry, and down the demographics. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. On the demographics here. Um I am concerned about the breakdown in the demographics. Um I think that probably white population also is just as representative as these that have already been cited, though maybe not actually being captured. Um so again, the 16, my understanding, Deputy Fulmerhauser, was those were all African American males that were written tickets or mostly males, but all African American. So the off balance of the 16 written because of one party um is is does somewhat skew this. So if you take out the 16 from here, it's 11 and 6, which is a little less disparate. Right. Um it's almost 50 percent really. But I I'm concerned about that aspect. That's correct, and outside of the 16 when we remove it, we have not done a deep dive into that. These statistics obviously were are through the 20th of July.
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