Crockett Council Spars over Police Response
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Crockett City Council met Monday, March 24, sparring over police responses and to make plans for a budgeting calendar for fiscal year 2026. Precinct Two Councilman Darrell Jones was absent.
After several contentious meetings and misunderstandings, Crockett Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher took a moment to clarify the approval of minutes from previous meetings.
“I wanted to make a little clarification,” Fisher began. “When we approve the minutes, they are the minutes of what was said at the meeting, whether it was agreed upon or not. Some of them might be opinion in the minutes, but it is basically just a repeat of what was said and recorded.”
With that, the previous meeting’s were quickly approved, unanimously.
Crockett Police Department (CPD) Chief Clayton Smith gave an update on his department’s activities during the month of Februrary. Smith reported manpower of 16 officers, who worked 0ver 2,500 man-hours, responding to nearly 300 calls during the month. This included 45 arrests and 380 traffic stops. The arrests ranged from assault to possession of marijuana and other crimes.
Fisher noted how proud the city was of the quick response from CPD at the recent shooting at Houston County Sheriff’s Office, detaining the suspect with no harm to him or others. Smith pointed out two of his officers responded quickly, along with Crockett Fire Department (CFD) Chief Jason Frizzell and one of his firefighters. Frizzell was captured by The Messenger’s camera assisting officers that morning during the immediate aftermath of the incident. The other firefighter is also trained as a CPD officer, highlighting the need for the city’s agencies to be cross-trained to assist one another.
Precinct Four Councilman Elbert “Wayne” Johnson also had kind words for Smith, saying, “I wanted to thank you for sending officers to the ‘Little Dribblers Game’ and keeping the kids safe.”
Precinct Three Councilwoman NaTrenia Hicks was interested in the makeup of the total arrest report, asking if Smith could explain where, or what part of the city the majority of the calls come from.
Smith admitted CPD does not break the figures down by area, although it could be done, given some time.
“I’m just asking from what area are we getting the majority of the calls from,” Hicks explained.
Smith explained his department could work on generating such a report and elaborated how the 911 system works, where callers are asked about what is going on and asked to give the address of the complaint.
“It depends on what time of year it is, but there is no specific area I can think of where demand is more than others,” Smith said. “The calls come from all over.”
“Well, that was my main question – what areas have more police presence than others,” Hicks said.
Smith said he would work on trying to generate such a report.
“75% of your calls are at Walmart®, right?” Precinct Five Councilman Mike Marsh asked, to laughter.
“I’d say about 80%” Smith answered.
“Well, I was close,” Marsh countered, turning to Hicks. “If most calls are at Walmart®, most calls will be in that precinct, so what exactly do you want?”
“He (Smith) has listed here 296 calls,” Hicks said. “I just want to know the area they are coming from.
Smith agreed to create a report based on city precincts and Hicks thanked him.
Frizzell then presented CFD’s activities during the month of February, noting they responded to 21 fires in the city and another 14 in the county, down from the previous month. Better conditions seemed to cause the slowdown in fires and while the county is not under a burn ban, Frizzell noted higher winds had caused his department to reject burn requests the last few days.
Council then heard about the city’s financial audit for fiscal year 2025, which will be covered in a separate story coming in our Sunday edition.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
