Tulsa County juvenile bureau reports 30 youth in custody, 12 firearm-related cases; board accepts report

Warden David Parker told the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 6 that 30 juveniles were in custody, and 12 of those cases involved firearms charges, including four homicides. "I have 30 kids today, and 12 of those are firearms charges, including 4 homicides," Parker said during the bureau update.

Parker said the detention bureau has limits on resources and tools to address violent cases, and highlighted staff training as a focus. "Our staff have done a great job in their training with the Handle With Care. We're fixing to send 3 more people out to get Handle With Care," he said. He also said the bureau had hired a retired federal trainer to run its training department and that leadership development and employee retention would be priorities going forward.

Parker reported a facility incident in which a fire-suppression component was damaged; as a result the bureau temporarily disabled tablets in one housing unit while it adjusts behavior-management strategies. "...we lost a fire head, in one of the housing units... we've addressed that by turning that side of the unit's tablets off," he said.

After the update the board moved to "accept and file" the juvenile detention report; the motion carried on an affirmative vote by the commissioners present.

The report did not specify case-level details such as defendants' names, pending court dates or the locations of the individual incidents. Parker framed the staffing and training steps as responses to operational needs rather than new policy changes requiring board approval.