Police chief lays bare the facts on recent spate of crimes in the buff
Jul. 2—When it comes to recent criminal activity in Cherokee County, pursuit of the "bare facts" by law enforcement officers can be quite literal.
Officials say there may be several reasons why lately, people have been stripping down when they get into mischief — and it's not just the hot weather.
Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King doesn't necessarily expect the trend to abate.
"I think it's a lack mental health treatment, a lack of substance abuse treatment, and as long as both of those go untreated, then we're going to continue to see issues like this," said King.
TPD sent three officers to Crisis Intervention training at Northeastern State University, and the "naked truth" was one of the scenarios addressed.
"We're trying to equip ourselves the best we can to address the rising number of issues that we see," said King.
On June 18, officers were dispatched to the downtown area, where they found Robert Gilliam walking around and holding a pair of jeans. Gilliam appeared to be under the influence and told officers he was outside and naked to "get some fresh air." He was arrested for indecent exposure and public intoxication.
Antonia Smaller and William Conrad were also arrested after officers found them nude inside a vacant home on June 22.
According to state law, "indecent exposure" is defined as "a number of prohibited knowing and willful acts, including the lewd exposing of a person of their genitals in a public place or in any place where people are present who may be offended or annoyed by the action."
Hypothetically, someone who is arrested for walking around the city without clothes could be charged with indecent exposure, and King said that would fall into the sex offender realm.
"Realistically, people that commit these offenses could end up finding themselves registered sex offenders. It just depends on officer discretion, what the [District Attorney's Office] files, and things like that," said King.
He said officers typically charge an offender wearing only a birthday suit with outraging public decency, which is more of a "disturbing the peace" violation.
"The officer and the DA's office will just evaluate case by case and see what they'd charge [an offender] with," King said.
But nudity isn't necessarily a legal problem — at least, not always. In 2019, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that if men can go topless in public, so can women. While that ruling ostensibly affected Oklahoma, state officials didn't agree, and said the law on public decency would still be enforced.
Then-Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter didn't concede, either, and the ruling didn't change local and state laws on the subject.
King said at the time that TPD would follow Hunter's opinion and enforce the laws of the state. King said that's what his department is still doing as of Thursday, July 1, with the uptick in nudity.
"It's still an ordinance and it's still on our state statutes as well. Once again, with each case, factors are going to be considered to determine what the best route is for law enforcement to take," he said.
