Editor's note: This article was updated on Aug. 30 at 10:25 a.m. to reflect that Helen Grant is the council member for Ward 4.
The Norman Police Department presented recent crime statistics, including those of calls from or about unhoused people, to the Norman City Council during a study session on Tuesday.
7:37 p.m.
The meeting is adjourned.
7:20 p.m.
Council moved on to the second item on the agenda regarding a potential avigation easement at Westwood Park for the OU Max Westheimer Airport. The intention of the operation is to make runway space for a larger aircraft vehicle.
According to City Attorney Kathryn Walker, OU is asking for the deed to the property and a lease for 50 years at one dollar a year, so long as the property is used as a golf course and does not interfere with the operation.
City Manager Darrel Pyle explained the benefit OU will gain from this project citing the increased space for transportation. The Max Westheimer Airport is also intended to be used as an aviation school.
7:17 p.m.
Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant asked Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster about a potential uptick in swatting due to the incident at OU in April. Foster said those numbers were given to the FBI, but NPD is knowledgeable about the act of swatting.
"I think for a long time we have known about swatting and are very careful about that," Foster said. "We've got the right tactics and the right things in place.”
Foster concluded his presentation and was thanked by council for his time.
7 p.m.
Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster said the next part of his plan was to better utilize community outreach programs. Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant asked if NPD had any plans of building a stronger relationship with minority communities who may not feel inclined to cooperate with police.
Foster noted that he had a few officers who could potentially do what Grant was proposing and it's an idea he wants to build on.
“I don't want people to be afraid to call us for help. The other thing is, I don't want people thinking oh, I don't want to call you. We are busy, and it's stacked in there and it might be a while for the response but at least I know what's going on,” Foster said.
In regards to the Norman neighborhood watch, Foster highlighted the importance of its existence but noted the problem is the lack of knowledge between the two parties.
6:50 p.m.
The next part of Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster's plan is to use a recently provided social worker grant to help provide victims of crime with wrap-around services. According to NPD, the provided social worker has previously helped comfort victims of domestic violence and assisted in the victims opening up and working with law enforcement.
Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman supported the idea of funding this aspect of social work if the grant were to ever fall through.
Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant asked how much asset forfeiture funds totaled each year and the possibility of using said funds for social work. Foster said the total is about $100,000 and that it could potentially be supplemented into the general fund.
6:37 p.m.
Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster outlined the NPD’s plan of action to address the issues in the city. Foster highlighted his attention to increasing staff levels and attributed his amount of deployable officers to potential officers not meeting the requirements to work for NPD.
“Some of it is physical fitness. I mean, it's not that we're cutting them. It's just, I don't want to come down there and do the work and decided I don't want to work as hard.” Foster said.
Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant asked how many officers were terminated for not following guidelines.
“We have terminated people just for various reasons, and also some of them are the same one that I'm telling you they're seeing that that's the likelihood that it's going that direction. So, they resigned. But we still report that,” Foster said.
6:20 p.m.
The total number of calls for service involving unhoused individuals was 2,736. Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster noted that this is the first year they are tracking the data and have no prior years to compare it to.
Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler wanted to know what the process of gathering this particular data is and the accuracy behind it.
"We're still refining at that point. I'm telling you, I don't think this is necessarily perfect. And we don't have any prior years to compare it to,” Foster said.
Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman asked for clarification on whether the calls resulted in police contact with unhoused individuals. She was told that these calls were simply calls and that the numbers could be driven up if someone wished to call despite a lack of an actual disturbance.
Statistics showed that there were a total of 337 calls for service at Food & Shelter, 70 arrests and 99 calls for service at A Friend’s House — the city’s current housing shelter — with 20 arrests. Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman took it upon himself to calculate the amount of crime A Friend’s House residents were responsible for, and found that the 20 arrests are just 0.61% of crime within the city.
6 p.m.
Overall reported vehicle collisions are up 4%, non-injury collisions are up 8% and fatal collisions are down to five incidents compared to nine last year.
Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman said he’d be interested in seeing a map of the intersections that are most problematic. And if there is a leak or correlation between their design.
Overall calls for service are up 7% with 50,311 total calls compared to 46,937 in 2022.
The rate of persons crimes per 1,000 people is 12.25, compared to Edmond at 8.76 and Broken Arrow at 9.71. The rate of property crimes per 1,000 people in Norman is at 43.69, compared to Edmond at 31.08 and Broken Arrow at 25.64.
Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster highlighted that Norman's population grew by 3%, but did not attribute the population increase to crime.
“Norman and Tulsa, are almost the exact same size and land area, but Tulsa has 410,000 people. It's an interesting way to look at cities, and how much area we have to cover with police and fire service” Holman said.
In regards to calls for service, Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler wanted to know if they had data on repeated callers who may potentially buff up the statistics.
Foster said that he's experienced people repeat calls, but tracking the data for those instances would be a complicated process.
5:30 p.m.
The meeting has started.
Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster presented recent Norman statistics to council such as calls for service, offense reports and collisions.
Foster explained the data he presented are compiled from multiple sources such as FBI Crime Data Explorer, OSBI annual statewide crime reporting and NPD’s open data portal. The statistics are reported offenses from Jan. 1 to July 31.
In 2023, reported offenses are 3% with 9,036 offenses to date. This is up from 2022 which had 8,718 offenses and 2021 with 8,445 offenses.
Both Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman and Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman asked for clarification on whether these offenses were simply reports or convictions, which Foster made clear were just reports.
Foster explained that major crime overall is down 3% with a total of 4,609 offenses in 2023, compared to 4,761 in 2022. Crimes against property are down 9%, crime against persons is up 11% and crime against society is up 16%.
Foster’s presentation also claimed that aggravated assault is up 19%, kidnapping up 40% with 14 in 2023 compared to 10 in 2022. Foster then clarified to council that the statistics are simply their own and do not include any crime pertaining to OU.
Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant questioned Foster on NPD’s preventative measures for drunk driving. Foster said that NPD partners with various agencies such as The Virtue Center in Norman on education about alcohol consumption for the youth.
This story was edited by Peggy Dodd. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
