Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Tulsa
Case Number: CV-2025-939
Court: Tulsa County District Court
Clients: Ashlynd Huffman and The Frontier
Background: In March 2025, Ashlynd Huffman, a reporter for The Frontier, submitted a public records request to the city of Tulsa seeking police disciplinary records dating back to 2016. In response, the Tulsa Police Department released an initial batch of over 100 pages of records.
The Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police asked a Tulsa County judge for an emergency order to temporarily block the release of additional records responsive to Huffman’s request, which the judge granted. The police union claimed that the records should be destroyed under its collective bargaining agreement, which requires certain disciplinary records to be “purged and expunged” from an officer’s personnel file after certain time frames, though they’re still maintained by the department’s internal affairs division.
Ahead of a scheduled hearing on the matter, Leslie Briggs, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Oklahoma, filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Huffman and The Frontier. The motion argues that the public has a right to petition for and access these records under the Oklahoma Open Records Act and to dismiss the case under the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.
After the hearing on May 14, 2025, The Frontier reported that Tulsa County District Court Judge Caroline Wall will allow the police union to review the records in question and decide whether to object to their release. Barring an objection, the judge said the records will “immediately” be released.
On May 21, 2025, the police union did not object to release of an additional 54 pages of disciplinary records. The court ordered the 54 pages produced to Huffman and The Frontier, leaving only 12 pages of records in dispute. The court also granted the motion to intervene and ordered the parties to return on June 4 to attempt to resolve the outstanding disputed records.
Quote: “[U]nder either the ORA, or even the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the FOP is not entitled to an order restraining the release of the public records at issue or mandating that the City of Tulsa destroy them,” Huffman and The Frontier argue in their motion to intervene. “Instead, Respondent must produce the records to Intervenors or face penalties for improper withholding.”
Update: On June 4, 2025, The Frontier reported that Judge Wall ordered the release of the remaining police disciplinary records, concluding that she did not see a “significant difference” between documents already produced by the city of Tulsa and those that the police union sought to keep private.
Filings:
2025-04-28: FOP’s emergency application for temporary restraining order
2025-04-28: Order granting FOP’s emergency application for temporary restraining order
2025-05-13: City’s response to FOP’s application for temporary restraining order
2025-05-14: Motion to intervene as respondents/cross-claimants