Yukon council authorizes police mutual aid for potential OKC Thunder celebration

The Yukon City Council on June 17 authorized the city police chief to allow commissioned officers of the Yukon Police Department to provide mutual assistance to the Oklahoma City Police Department for a potential Oklahoma City Thunder victory celebration, citing 11 O.S. 34-01-03.

The vote followed a brief special meeting called at 8 a.m. in the Centennial Building. Council members approved the authorization after a short discussion about notification deadlines and overtime funding; the council’s roll call showed five members present and multiple members voted yes during the recorded roll call.

The measure matters because a championship celebration in downtown Oklahoma City could draw very large crowds and would require coordinated policing across jurisdictions. Chief Basie, Yukon’s police chief, said the department sent a letter “as soon as the Thunder had made the playoffs” to begin planning with Oklahoma City and partner agencies. “He did that preemptively so that he could get plans started and determine how many agencies would be able to offer them assistance,” Basie said.

Council members asked whether the city had met a June 6 notification deadline mentioned in the agenda. Basie said the letter was sent in advance and the authorization remains within the statutory limit. He told the council the planning process was continuing and that “we'll be probably right up to next week.”

On funding, Basie said, “That would come out of, of my overtime budget.” He also assured the council that Yukon would maintain regular staffing levels: “We'll still have a full staff,” Basie said, adding that the department would not leave the city unmanned if additional assistance were needed beyond the organized event.

Basie described the scale Oklahoma City officials are planning for if the Thunder were to clinch a championship: at a minimum, “probably 600,000 people in downtown Oklahoma City should the Thunder bring this championship back.” He said planning meetings with Oklahoma City and partner agencies would continue through the week and up to Friday, and that all of Oklahoma City's departments were involved.

Council members made a motion to authorize mutual aid and a second was recorded; the council then voted with recorded yes votes during the roll call. The motion approved allowing Yukon officers to assist Oklahoma City under the authority cited in the agenda and with overtime to be charged to the Yukon police overtime budget.

The council did not set additional conditions in the recorded motion. Next steps described in the meeting include ongoing planning meetings with Oklahoma City and partner agencies and final staffing determinations as the event plans evolve.