Police chief: officers directing traffic ahead of Whataburger opening

Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King, during a March 27 chat session, said officers would be directing traffic on Downing Street where Whataburger is having its grand opening.

"Right now the line has been consistently, so that outside lane is backed up to Cox Drug. Flow of traffic is pretty good. They are serving burgers and you can still get into Las Maracas, you can get into Sonic, you can still get into anywhere on Downing that you'd like," King said.

King said officers will be directing traffic in the area for most of the week, but that depends on how business is fluctuating.

In other business, King said property crimes were down last week as they had one less burglary per day for the week. He said shoplifting is one of major calls officers go on.

"We dealt with some camping in the park. I went and help with some of that on [Friday, March 24], making structures in the park camping and had to remove those people, or at least tell them they couldn't be camping," he said.

There are currently three vacancies at the police department and King said they are looking to fill those sometime this week.

"We've got one officer in field training right now. [We] had Officer Dylan Harman just certify with C.L.E.E.T., just completed his Bridge C.L.E.E.T. Academy and passed his certification test," King said.

Officer Austin Hughart has been with TPD for a few weeks and King said he is progressing as expected.