'Setting the record straight:' Sheriff, police chief clear up confusion about Tulsa Juneteenth Festival security

Tulsa-area law enforcement is clearing up some confusion about the law enforcement presence at the Juneteenth festival.

Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen said during a news conference Monday that his officers were not at the event, but that Tulsa County Deputies were hired by a private company to work the event.

The sheriff says that's true, but his agency was not overseeing the event's security.

Confusion at the news conference

At the City of Tulsa's news conference, Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen was asked how many officers worked the Juneteenth Festival.

"Oh, I actually, the private security; there were officers, but I was going to, Tulsa County Deputies were at Juneteenth. We, our upstaffing on that night, were in the entertainment zone, which is relatively close to where Juneteenth was," said Chief Larsen.

Larsen never answered the question, and a city spokesperson clarified that the city doesn't know how many were working the festival.

Clearing up the confusion

A private security firm was overseeing safety at the event, and Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado says if his office were in charge, the festival would have been handled differently.

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado says TCSO was not a part of planning for the event, and he knew nothing about the security plan.

"So I want to make sure that people understand that, regardless of what was said. And essentially, that's it. You know, we had two deputies there, and that was it," said Regalado.

Regalado says the two officers working the Juneteenth festival were off duty and working for the private company.

He says he or the undersheriff usually approves off-duty jobs, but both were out of town, so a major approved the request.

"Quite frankly, I would have turned it down, because a crowd that size," said Regalado.

Chief Larsen's response

Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen told News On 6 that he found out after the news conference that TCSO only had two deputies working at the festival, and there were other off-duty TPD and officers from other agencies working the festival. Larsen said he didn't mean to imply that the sheriff's office did anything wrong.

"I think the Tulsa police department is one, if not the best, municipal police department in the country. And so this is nothing about them, this is about setting the record straight," said Regalado.

The private security company

News On 6 called Donnie Johnson, who was hired to be in charge of security for the event, to get the number of officers who worked, but he never responded.

The permit for the event says that 60,000 people were expected to attend the three-day festival.