Police Chief: Heavy police presence at Norris Park during holiday season, 'Norris Pole Police Station'

During a Dec. 2 chat session, Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King updated the public on this Friday's Christmas Parade, a temporary police outpost, and call numbers for November.

Officers are ramping up for the annual Tahlequah Christmas Parade, which is slated for Friday, Dec. 6. Parking on Muskogee Avenue, between Chickasaw Street to Goingsnake Street, will be halted at 2 p.m. the day of the parade.

"Side streets will be blocked at 4 p.m. Muskogee Avenue will be blocked at 5 p.m. and the parade starts at 6 p.m. If you're in the parade and you have a lot of walkers with your float, the pedestrians in the parade are going to be staged at the NSU Event Center, out in the grass so you won't be in the back parking lot with your float like most years," he said.

King advised onlookers and parade participants to plan ahead and to give themselves time ahead of the event.

"Just remember if you're dealing with a volunteer, police officer that's working an intersection, remember they're just there to do a job. They've been instructed procedurally how to handle things and so be as patient as you can, understanding as you can, we're going to try and do the same," he said.

In other business, King said he met with the mayor and city administrator Monday morning and there is a plan to have a temporary police outpost at the pavilion, across from Norris Park.

"We're going to call it the, 'Norris Pole Police Station,'" he said. "So in the evenings, when people are down walking [and checking out] the lights, things like that, we'll have an officer stationed there. During the day time, you'll see us more in the downtown area walking throughout the day," King said.

If anyone in the area witnesses something that needs immediate police attention, King said an officer will be there.

In November, officers have logged 5,097 calls for service; 2,000 pedestrian stops; 1,400 building checks; 28 thefts; and 23 burglaries. Officers made 121 arrests and have taken 211 reports. King said they worked 50 vehicle crashes.

"We had a spike in the middle of the month with burglaries, last about a week to 10 days [and] have slowed since then. [We] think the two perpetrators responsible for most of them have been arrested in a different crime - a stolen vehicle," King said.

Detectives are still working those burglary cases, according to King.