Last week The Frontier dropped a major story scrutinizing Tulsa Police’s use of a third-party surveillance camera system called Flock Safety, that, according to Garrett Yalch’s reporting, does much more than just read license plates:
They also use artificial intelligence to create “vehicle fingerprints” based on make, model, color, and unique features like dents and bumper stickers — allowing the system to identify cars even when license plates aren’t visible. Officers can search for cars without a warrant using a license plate number or descriptors like “all vehicles with an American flag bumper sticker.” The software can then combine these datapoints to map a vehicle’s movements across the city.
On top of those they operate, Tulsa police also have access to privately owned Flock cameras installed at shopping centers and in neighborhoods.
You should definitely read this story in its entirety, as the return on investment is, put charitably, unclear. Overall my big takeaway here is that Tulsa PD and Flock Safety seem to be pretty friendly with each other. The city made a $2.5M investment in overhead necessary to analyze the data Flock’s technology produces, which itself appears to cost $700,000 a year. And Tulsa shows up often in the company’s marketing materials, which is concerning for a company whose spokespeople are talking about a future with a Flock camera “on every street corner.” Yikes!
And now we march on, terrified, toward this week’s news roundup. Here’s what’s going on around Tulsa and the surrounding region:
- Trump admin revokes 8 visas from international students at OSU; 4 more at UCO
- Oklahoma’s black market for marijuana has gotten too big to “arrest our way out of”
- Oklahoma Humanities Council is on the DOGE chopping block
- Kevin Stitt just won’t shut up about the Oklahoma Forestry Service, even after his threats to eliminate it didn’t land well with state legislators
- A new report from Insurify shows Oklahoma home insurance rates could increase 8% in 2025
- JaNae Williams at The Oklahoman’s got a really good explainer here about how the Trump tariffs affect grocers, restaurateurs and diners in Oklahoma City
- City of Tulsa replaces ‘historically bad’ buses built by company that filed for bankruptcy
- FarmBar’s Lisa Becklund is a finalist for Best Chef at this year’s James Beard awards, and Cat Cox of Country Bird Bakery is a finalist for Outstanding Chef or Baker.
- Markwayne Mullin tells dumbass story that’s somehow less disqualifying than his claim that Ted Cruz is “the funniest guy in Congress”
- The Cry Baby Hill statue development is on hold (maybe?), because it sucks
- They tore up the Center of the Universe! But don’t worry, it’s part of a planned rehabilitation project.
- This Land founder Michael Mason has a new installment in his Psychonaut series up about the south Tulsa CityPlex towers, and it is a doozy
- The Frontier and KOSU teamed up for a look at how the Trump admin’s anti-DEI affects Oklahoma’s Black farmers
Tulsa jobs and opportunities
- Tulsa Artist Fellowship announces open call for artists for 2026-2028 term
- The Outsiders House Museum is hiring an executive director | Salary not listed
- The Tulsa Local News Initiative is hiring for a ton of local journalism jobs | Full-time | Salaries vary
- Housing Forward is seeking a director of housing development | Full-time | Salary not listed
- City of Tulsa is seeking an accounting manager | Full-time | Salary listed as $71k-123k
- City of Tulsa is seeking a project manager | Full-time | Salary listed as $71k-123k
- Scheels is hiring a full-time social media associate | Full-time | $20 an hour
