At a public hearing discussing the selection of a new Tulsa Police Chief, a local activist demanded that Mayor G.T. Bynum turn the cameras off of Live PD.
Marq Lewis, a local Tulsa activist, demanded in a public hearing Wednesday night that Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum cancel the current contract with Live PD. Citing the exploitation of people, Lewis said that the reality show is guilty of videoing people “at their weakness.”
Mayor G.T. Bynum quickly rejected the idea.
“No, I will not,” Bynum said. “Because I think it is important for the people to see what our officers actually deal with out in the field. Live PD provides the ability to do that.”
A woman shouted at the Mayor after his rejection of the demand, “That is not important…put cameras on the officers” and the Mayor firmly told her that body cameras were on the officers.
Bynum reiterated that “there’s a lot of irresponsible statements that are made about our officers in the field and I think people should be able to see it.”
Pat Cambell, host of a popular Tulsa radio show on KFAQ discussed the demands by Lewis Thursday morning. Calling Lewis a “community antagonist” rather than activist, Cambell said that the real reason that Lewis and his “small vocal agitators” following him wanted to get rid of the popular reality show, Live PD, was that “number one, it portrays TPD in a posiitve light. You can’t have that. I mean if the cops are the bad guys then you can’t have a TV program that portrays them in a positive light and more importantly it lets us, the little people see what officers have to deal with.”
Cambell praised the mayor “for not bowing to the mob of rage.”
We reached out to Travis Yates, author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies” and while Yates would not comment on the situation that is taking place in his agency, he did say that the swift and accurate response by the Mayor was exactly what Courageous Leadership looks like.
We agree and when it comes to law enforcement, we do not see enough of the strong, confident leadership that Mayor Bynum performed. Far too many times, law enforcement is beaten up by politicians when they are attacked by others and on behalf of law enforcement, it was certainly refreshing to see Mayor Bynum stand up to a few characters that are desperately wanting to hide just how professional the Tulsa Police Department displays each weekend on the most popular show on cable.