Oklahoma Highway Patrol confirms no one has been arrested during recent encampment sweeps in Tulsa, and just one person has been connected to services, despite already clearing at least 30 locations.
Lt. Mark Southall, a spokesperson for state highway patrol, said the vast majority of people living in encampments have instead elected to simply vacate state land.
"Unfortunately, we only had one person in the whole weekend take us up on the offer to go get assistance," Southall said. "We can't make anybody go with us. Once they leave state property, that's all they're required to do."
Work to shut down encampments in Tulsa is led by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who launched Operation SAFE last Thursday, despite concerns from service providers and city officials that encampment sweeps will harm efforts already underway to address homelessness.
KOSU asked whether the governor's office anticipates there will be fewer people experiencing homelessness in the state at the conclusion of Stitt's actions. Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt, said it depends on the choices of homeless individuals.
"They have to choose — do I want to keep living under a bridge, or do I want to get better?" she said. "But it's not compassionate to let somebody live under a bridge. The governor is not going to settle for people living under bridges. And so I guess we'll see."
Cave said results from the sweeps, including no arrests and one connection to care, are compatible with Stitt's mission.
"I think if you talk to everyday Tulsans and everyday Oklahomans, they're pretty, pretty excited about the governor's decisive action," Cave said.
Service providers and Tulsa leaders have been widely critical of Operation SAFE.
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said it undermines existing city efforts. Those who work on the frontlines with the people living in encampments say the sweeps are traumatizing, destroy important belongings and do little to address root causes of the issue.
Cave said people who have been critical of the operation are those "who have benefited from the homelessness crisis."
"The people who are receiving, you know, taxpayer dollars, the NGOs that are receiving these big grants who benefit from having homeless people in their area because they, you know, have a job to do and they keep getting paid for it, they benefit from having homelessness," she said. "Regular Tulsans are supportive of the governor's efforts."
In an interview with Tulsa World, Stitt said, along with plans to clear 11 more sites this week, highway patrol officers will revisit previously cleared locations to make sure people don't regroup.
"And after two or three times, guess what?" Stitt told the Tulsa World. "They're not going to come set their tent back up because they know it's going to be taken and thrown in the trash. And they'll move on to Portland or Los Angeles or San Francisco or somewhere else."
Southall declined to comment on the governor's statements to the newspaper. He said highway patrol is working at Stitt's request. But, Southall said he wanted to clear up misunderstandings about patrol officers' efforts and motivations.
"We're trying to prevent the next tragedy from happening and from somebody else being killed," he said.
Southall said he has seen an increase in automobile accidents involving people living alongside state highways and interstates, including a recent collision between a motorcyclist and a woman crossing the street in Oklahoma City.
He said solving homelessness will take a "full, collaborative community effort," but as part of the Department of Public Safety, troopers first need to make sure people aren't dying in motor accidents.
"It was never our intent to solve homelessness in Tulsa," he said. "We know that is a much bigger mission than what we're going to be able to provide. Our goal was to move the homeless encampments off of state property, that often are around or border interstates and highway systems."
Southall said he wishes more people were taking highway patrol officers' offers to connect them to care, but there is a reason why no arrests have taken place.
"While the overall impact on the homeless population may be small, our primary goal is the safety of those who camp just yards from highway traffic or cross highways on foot," a Facebook post from the agency reads. "Our mission in this operation is simply safety."
The full impact of Operation SAFE on homelessness in Tulsa remains unclear. For now, the state is pressing ahead with sweeps, while city leaders and service providers weigh how the effort will shape their response.
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