Police Chief: Camera trailer decreasing nightly foot traffic at Norris Park

During a Dec. 16 chat session, Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King updated the public on call numbers for the year and issues at Norris Park.

The city's parks and recreation department was having issues with extension cords being taken from Norris Park.

"We, with the help of Emergency Management, they provided us a couple of mobile lights that run on generators that we've set up, turn on late a night that run all night long. We also have a demo of a camera trailer so we have the entire park under surveillance. It arms at a certain time and is motion-activated, notifies us, we can communicate through the cameras either by turning a siren on or by talking," King said.

King has noticed a decrease of foot traffic through the park at night and he'll be looking into purchasing a camera trailer in next year's budget cycle.

So far in 2024, officers have logged about 58,000 calls for service; 4,927 pedestrian stops; 10,206 building checks; 333 thefts; and 132 burglaries. Officers conducted 14,136 traffic stops; made 1,490 arrests and have taken 2,401 reports. King said they worked 645 vehicle crashes.

"We continue to look at different ways, to improve the way we work each and every day whether it's analyzing where crimes are happening and patrol better in those areas, or accidents are happening and work traffic in those areas. It's one of those things it's really been a big focal point the last couple of years especially with us, it's an honest day's work for an honest day's pay," King said.

The police chief said they've changed their focus for December and January for the night shift in which officers will be patrolling the neighborhoods and businesses once traffic dies down.

"I can't give enough praise to the men and women at the Tahlequah Police Department. They work hard everyday and we don't get it right everyday. We still have mess ups, we still have complaints filed, we still handle situations that we could have handled them better," he said. "Every person that works at the Tahlequah Police Department comes back tomorrow, trying to improve on what we did today and if we miss the mark today, we're working on hitting the mark tomorrow."