Under an agreement publicly released this week, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, a Democrat, has promised that Tulsa police and municipal courts will no longer pursue charges against any alleged criminal who is a member of any of the more than 500 American Indian tribes in the United States, and also promised to dismiss all pending prosecutions against Indian defendants in Tulsa’s municipal court system.

Law enforcement officials warn that the agreement may embolden criminals due to the much-reduced threat of prosecution for defendants who have even a trace of Indian heritage.

“Any settlement agreement that unnecessarily surrenders the State’s ability to prosecute human traffi ckers and drug dealers is a grave threat to public safety for all Oklahomans,” Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics director Donnie Anderson said in a statement issued prior to the release of the Tulsa-Muscogee Nation agreement. “Crime does not distinguish Oklahomans based on tribal membership, and neither should our law enforcement and prosecution efforts.”

Nichols campaigned for mayor vowing to reduce the city’s authority, promising to “co-govern” with local Indian tribes, and declared the new agreement was part of that effort.

“Kneecapping the Tulsa Police Department—one of the best in the country—from performing its public safety function puts all Tulsans in danger.”

—Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler “As mayor, I pledged to make Tulsa the safest big city in the country and to co-govern with our tribal partners,” Nichols said in a press release. “Today, with this agreement, we are establishing systems to ensure that we move forward on both of those pledges with a solid framework.”

In the same release, Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill gave Nichols a rhetorical pat on the head.

“I applaud and appreciate the vision of Mayor Nichols in advocating a policy for reaching solutions with Tribes—rather than litigating—on these issues of mutual importance for citizens and visitors in Tulsa, both Indian and non-Indian alike,” Hill said.