Tulsa Police Chief speaks out after the arrest of one of his officers


Reported by: Sharon Phillips


Tulsa Police Chief, Chuck Jordan sat down with FOX23 to talk about the accusations against one of his officers.

Tyrone Jenkins was arrested Monday for conspiracy to sell cocaine. He was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on complaints of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and violation of the computer crimes act.

His arrest and booking report states that a confidential informant was used to help catch him.

Early Tuesday afternoon, FOX23 sat down with Tulsa police chief, Chuck Jordan to talk about Jenkin's arrest.

“I trained officer Jenkins in the academy when I was a sergeant and of course it hits you right in the stomach, and you don’t think officers would ever do that and when it happens it’s hard,” said Jordan.

So far, Jenkins has not been charged with anything and has since bonded out of jail.

The police chief told FOX23 that Jenkins is on paid leave, but that his status with the department could change pending an arraignment or any charges being filed.

“Obviously, he hasn’t been through the court process yet, and I’m not going to make any comments about his guilt or his innocence,” Jordan said.

Court records show a confidential informant reached out to Jenkins about trying to collect money officers had missed during a recent investigation.
The police report says Jenkins accessed two law enforcement databases and obtained information that possibly helped the informant take money. At a later meeting the report goes on to state that Jenkins met up with the informant and took money from him and offered to help sell 34 grams of Cocaine.

FOX23 asked the police chief if any policies and procedures would be changing because of this.

“No what we had in place worked. I’ll say that. He was not a drug cop and he was not in charge of drug enforcement or anything else. This happened through contacts he knew actually outside of the police department," says Jordan.

So far, no charges have been filed against the officer and the police chief wants to remind the public that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. In the meantime – he’s working to keep up the moral of his other officers.

“I try to let them know this is not a black eye to them and I let the public know when they see a cop out here on the street, that’s not what they're about. That man or woman are dedicated to this community and they're going to do everything they can to keep this community safe," says Jordan.

As the department continues to investigate if there was any wrongdoing by Officer Jenkins, Jordan has an important message for the city of Tulsa.

“Our department not just the chief but all the way to the boots on the ground are committed to making sure we have a complete department that our public can trust,” he says.