The money from the 2020 NPD reallocation is still there -- so what now?

Jun. 19—Norman city councilmembers this week gave money that's been in question since 2020 to its police department, but the original allocation remains intact, and councilors differ on how they believe it should be used.

Council on Tuesday voted to ratify the city budget, which included $865,321 given to the Norman Police Department to fill nine officer positions. It's the amount council removed from NPD's budget increase in 2020 amid protests across the country — including in Norman — that spurred larger conversations about whether cities should use money typically devoted to police to support social services that would decrease crime.

The reallocation resulted in seven empty officer positions cut from NPD and two more cut after outgoing officers retired.

NPD intends to use the money approved Tuesday to refill the nine positions, according to a city news release. Police used an increase in violent and serious property crimes in 2021 and a department-wide restructure to fight for the money's return.

But even with the money back, the city still has more than $1 million in the fund set aside for community programs and an internal audit function from the original allocation. The funding total is comprised of the original allocation from the police budget increase in 2020 and a $500,000 deposit from excess general fund revenue in 2021, according to City Manager Darrel Pyle.

Both the original allocation and the deposit were taken from the city's general fund, not its half-cent Public Safety Sales Tax, Pyle said.

Council removed some money from the fund to hire Neighborhood Alliance, a group that works with neighborhoods without homeowner's associations to direct residents to services and help them navigate city government.

But they still "comfortably have $1 million remaining," Pyle said.

"We did not add to it this year, and the reason is, we haven't figured out what to do with it yet," Ward 1 Councilor Brandi Studley said.

Studley and Ward 7 Stephen Holman said $500,000 of this money has been earmarked for an alternative response for anyone in crisis who doesn't necessarily need police transport.

Studley and Holman said they're waiting for the national 988 number — a crisis line for people in need of mental health response — to see how they can best use the earmarked money.

Holman said the fund could pay for services that could address potential gaps in the 988 service. He expects noncriminal crisis response to only increase as the Oklahoma City metro area grows bigger.

"You're going to see issues like homelessness and mental health crisis and substance abuse, things like that," he said.

On July 5, Holman will be the only remaining councilor who voted for the reallocation in 2020. He spoke well of NPD's restructure — which will create a staff services bureau in the department in hopes of more effectively addressing crime-adjacent issues in the community — before voting for the budget Tuesday.

Holman's support of the fund created by the reallocation is still opposed by Ward 3 Kelly Lynn, who was elected on the campaign promise to fund NPD. Come July, Lynn will be one of three conservative councilmembers who have vocally supported the department.

"Hopefully these projects are dead and gone," Lynn said in a written statement. "They were terrible ideas to begin with and were purely ideological. Our citizen sentiment and our political culture are both quickly shifting away from this ideological nonsense."

In a statement to KOCO, mayor-elect Larry Heikkila said the money for the nine positions back and a $796,541 budget amendment for salary increases is "setting the tone" for the next three years. Heikkila declined to be interviewed or provide written responses to Transcript questions Friday.

When asked if the city should keep adding to the fund, Lynn said the city needs to keep adding to public safety because Norman is "far below" the national average of officers per 1,000 citizens ratio. In 2018, the United States had 2.4 sworn police officers per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the FBI. At a full force of 180, Norman would have 1.4 officers per 1,000, according to census data.

NPD did not immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday on how they would like the remaining money to be used. The department referred The Transcript to a city news release following its budget increase Tuesday.

Alternatively, Holman said service providers paid from the fund could have a relationship with NPD.

"With the police department, maybe it is a situation that does need them. Maybe it isn't initially, but maybe it does. So maybe working together, having a close relationship like that," he said.

Studley, the only councilmember to vote against the amendment for the salary increase Tuesday, said she would like to see the fund pay for domestic violence and sexual abuse advocacy services to aid police response to those calls. She said advocates understand the nuances of these situations better than officers and can thus bring better outcomes.

Like Holman, Studley said not everything requires police response. She said people struggling with ailments like mental illness and drug addiction may need help, not an arrest.

"I would just like to see less police interaction with those types of things and more professional services provided," she said.