In the running for Gray County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1&3 is Connie Ogle, who has served as JP Precinct 2&4 for nearly ten years.
Connie’s inspiration to join law enforcement started at an extraordinarily early age, and rather it being a familial obligation, it’s the memories of her father headed out to work that she recalls so fondly.
“I would say it started when I was born. My dad was a police officer and in 1957, he was the chief in Canyon. It started when I would hear him leave for work and I would smell his Old Spice, and I would hear the creaking of his leather belt and those shiny boots as he walked by. When I was about 17, I went to work for Grand Prairie Police Department as a midnight PBX operator. After a while, I decided to become a police officer and I went down to Richland Hills. They sponsored me to go to the police academy and paid my way. After I graduated, I hit the streets January 1, 1987.”
On her very first day on the start of a brand new year, Connie would face her first real challenge-a vehicle vs. train fatality. While some new officers may not have to see things of that nature for weeks or months into their employment, Connie was hit with it right out of the gate, but that experience helped determine whether she could handle those aspects of the job, and as it turns out, she absolutely could and was ultimately able to expand into her career through various other roles.
“The good Lord gave me the ability to set my feelings aside without even thinking about it. I could accept it, and to know how to behave at that scene and after could be detrimental for that person and for their family. It’s a very important job not to be taken lightly and I never took it lightly. There are times when it’s someone I know or their family or if it’s a child-those are tough. But I know I have a job to do and what I do makes a determination on what happens past that point.”
Connie would come to Pampa in 1991, but not before portraying a re-enactment of one of her cases from Richland Hills on the television series Hard Copy.
“Myself and a Texas Ranger worked a case where this woman’s phone had been illegally tapped. She was the piano player at the church in Richland Hills, and the man was the choir director. He was always putting the moves on her, and he ended up following her. She went out one day and there were ruby diamond earrings hanging on her clothesline from him and she couldn’t figure out how he was ‘reading her mind.’ He told her they were just so in tune with each other, but then she goes out and digs into her flowerbed and finds his makeshift recorder where he had tapped into her phoneline. He had a pattern when he called, so me and another detective came out and he sat outside and I was inside with her in case he came up there. He shows up and I go running out the front door and shone my flashlight in his face and he stopped and my partner tackled him. There were a lot of fun things in my career-I’ve got so many stories.”
When Connie moved to Pampa, she would start at the Pampa Police Department in 1992 at a mere $2.50 an hour as a civilian investigator. She would only be required to work misdemeanor cases, but after just two weeks in, she would be handed a felony rape case.
After a while, she would then go to work for the Gray County Sheriff’s Office under then-sheriff Jimmy Free. She would go back to the police department until 2005 when she went to the District Attorney’s office to work as an investigator under Lynn Switzer. It was around that time when the murders of Brian Conrad, Michell Conrad, and Zach Doan would shock our small town.
She would then go to Carson County as a jail administrator, making her way up to captain before leaving to work for Homeland Security as a guard.
She would come back to Pampa and work in the District Clerk’s office for a year before applying and being appointed as JP upon Judge Curfman’s resignation, and winning the seat that next election.
With her extensive and colorful background in law enforcement, it’s crystal clear that Connie can do just about anything and handle whatever is thrown her way. For this upcoming election, there were three spots she was encouraged to run for, but ultimately decided to stay within the field she knows and loves.
“I was asked to run for three different positions and this was one of them. I probably would have run for sheriff if I was about ten years younger,” she laughed. “The other was County Judge, but I have no desire for that and the headaches they have. I have two retirements under my belt, and I don’t retire well. I love this job, I love what I do.”
“I have met so many good people. You meet a lot of people through the deaths-I have about 400 deaths I’ve done in the last ten years. If I make them feel better, then I feel like I’ve accomplished something. I have compassion for the people I have to tell that they’ve been evicted a week before Christmas. I’m fair by the law, but I’m still human, and I think that’s a very important thing to be in this job. You see people at their most desperate, and who in the world would you judge poorly because they’ve fallen on hard times? We’ve all been there.”
“The thing that I’ve learned in law enforcement and in this career is to listen. Sometimes people just want to be heard, so listen to them. When we go to court, I give them their time. They may know that it’s not going to go their way, but they still deserve the ability to share their story with me.”
“I pride myself on being impartial and fair, because that’s what I would expect someone to be with me and everyone deserves that.”
Early voting will be February 17th through February 27th at the Gray County Courthouse, 205 N. Russell in Room 104. Times are:
Tuesday, February 17th through Friday, February 20th-8 AM to 5 PM
Saturday, February 21: 7 AM to 7 PM
Sunday, February 22: 12 PM to 6 PM
Monday, February 23 through Friday, February 27: 7 AM to 7 PM.
Election Day, March 3: 7 AM to 7 PM
Last day to register is February 2, 2026. Mail ballots will begin going out on January 17, 2026. Last day to request ballot by mail is February 20, 2026.
