Choctaw Police Asked To Make More Contact With Public During Shifts

Choctaw’s police chief is publicly addressing an email he sent out last Thursday, and intended to remain private between high-ranking members of the police department. 

It had to do with the falling number of traffic tickets that are being written by Choctaw police. 

Chief Connie Clay’s email came after a discussion he said he had with interim City Manager Bernie Nauheimer recently about falling city revenues. 

The email — which was leaked to News 9 on Tuesday — quoted the police chief as saying Nauheimer “connects activity with the amount of tickets that are written.” 

“Somebody sent you an email without talking to me first, and they probably misread it. And I’m following up with a memorandum that’s going to go out and explains it a little more,” Clay told News 9 Tuesday afternoon. 

Nauheimer was on vacation and unavailable Tuesday. 

Clay said he and Nauheimer agree that Clay can’t force his officers to write “more” traffic tickets. 

However, Clay said he has mandated that his officers make at least two contacts with a member of the public each hour of his or her shift every day. 

“It’s not necessarily going out here and making two traffic stops and writing two tickets,” he said.