On Oct. 18, Tulsa Police personnel held a training session at one of their Citizen’s Police Academy functions. The Citizen's Police Academy is a program that has been implemented by a variety of law enforcement departments across the country, and is almost exactly what it sounds like. Citizens who pass a modest background check can take free classes that will expose them to information about “police operations, patrol, investigation, services, control, community services, special operations, road safety, criminal law and procedure, and communication.” It is one of the myriad community outreach programs law enforcement agencies organize in the hopes of garnering support from their communities and ostensibly creating safer communities.
But on Oct. 18, at Tulsa’s Citizen’s Police Academy training session where Sgt. M. Griffin and Lt. Andy McKenzie of the Tulsa Police Department were presenting, audio has emerged of allegedly one of those two men making some very strange assertions. Reporter Dylan Goforth first released the video and audio of the event that he had been given by an anonymous participant, who said they had felt uncomfortable with some of what was being said, which is why they began recording it in the first place.
In the recording, you can hear a man that NewsChannel 8 has confirmed is Sgt. Mike Griffin, talking about how fun it was to beat up citizens during the Black Lives Matter protests going on in Tulsa in June of 2020. Sgt. Griffin characterized the problems for police and our government as being caused by “liberal” white people. In fact, according to Sgt. Griffin, “Nothing is more dangerous to America than a liberal white person.”
To be honest, that was the least offensive and frightening thing he said.
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Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin released an official statement saying that the supervisor involved was placed on “restricted duty,” pending the completion of an investigation into whether Sgt. Griffin and “other police personnel” who may have been present at the Oct. 18 training session “failed in their duties.” Considering that the last time we were talking about one of Tulsa’s top law enforcement officials—a Major Travis Yates, who was blaming George Floyd’s murder on a media conspiracy to sway elections—I am leery to believe that any internal investigation will do much.
Here is the transcript of what is said on the video/audio you can hear below.
“Left versus right, white versus black, that's all crap — all crap. It is people who love this country and are willing to follow the law and make changes to the law against people who hate this country and want it to look more like the old Soviet Union or China. Some of those people—you know what, Andy and I, and I'm not going to lie to you—it was fun.
When the anti-police riots started and they hit Tulsa, this is not Oregon or Seattle. If you act retarded here, we will smoke your ass.
So I get to go undercover around a bunch of people at 71st and Memorial and when they start breaking windows, it was beautiful because we're driving around going 'Here's some, come get them, SWAT boys.' Like spanking a bunch of unruly kids. And here's what I want you to know—90 percent of that crowd—white people.
The dumb white kid that thinks playing video games with purple hair is his life's goal, he's the biggest problem. I'm not just saying this to you. Nothing is more dangerous to America than a liberal white person.”
Here is the full statement from the Tulsa Police Department, c/o NewsChannel 8:
Chief Franklin was made aware of comments made by a Tulsa Police Supervisor at a training session during the Citizens Police Academy on October 18, 2022.
During this training session, the Supervisor expressed several personal opinions that are not acceptable for any Tulsa Police Officer to present as representatives of the Department.
Chief Franklin has initiated an investigation into the incident and the Supervisor has been moved from their normal assignment and placed on Administrative Restrictive duty.
Chief Franklin Quote: “I, and the members of the Tulsa Police Department, stand committed to the citizens of Tulsa. We preserve to be a professional law enforcement agency in all aspects of our service.
We take an oath as Tulsa Police Officers to respect the dignity and rights of every individual and any violation of that oath will be closely scrutinized and corrective action taken if appropriate.
I am aware other police personnel may have been present. If the investigation reveals any police personnel failed in their duties, they will be held accountable.”
The problem is that this is likely not a “failure” of “duties,” according to whatever a police department chooses to list as duties. A common refrain from the left during the George Floyd-BLM protests that year was, “The people are protesting; the police are rioting.” Police departments across the country disagreed with that sentiment then, and likely don’t agree more with it now. So odds are, this will end with a Tulsa cop who bragged about beating civil rights protesters going right back to duty. We’ll just have to wait to find out how they spin that into being “held accountable.”
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Today on The Brief, we speak with Way To Win’s co-founder and vice president, Jenifer Fernandez Ancona. Ancona comes in to discuss how grassroots progressive groups are spending money in the hopes of getting as many voters out for the midterm elections. She also talks about what campaign advertisements are effective and which are not. One thing is for sure, though: We are living in historic times, and what that means for these midterms cannot be easily predicted—so Get Out The Vote!