A city in Alabama has decided to let go and then rebuild its entire police force, including by appointing a new police chief, weeks after a grand jury concluded that the department had operated “as more of a criminal enterprise” than a law enforcement agency and indicted its chief and four officers.
The measure taken by the council members in Hanceville, a city of roughly 3,000 residents about 45 miles north of Birmingham, to disband the Hanceville Police Department was in line with recommendations made by 18 jurors when they charged the chief and the four officers with felony and misdemeanor charges in February.
After a public meeting of more than an hour on Monday, Kenneth Cornelius, a council member, proposed the motion to suspend the Police Department “as we know it now” and immediately hire a new a chief who could rebuild it.
“We want to fix it and fix it now and fix it right,” Mr. Cornelius said at the meeting, which was broadcast on YouTube.
The measure passed unanimously.
In February, Champ Crocker, the Cullman County district attorney, announced the arrest of the Police Department’s chief, Jason Marlin, along with four officers, on felony and misdemeanor charges, included mishandling evidence, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, computer tampering, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and failure to notify the state about ethics violations.
The wife of one of those officers was also indicted.
The entire department, including dispatchers and administrative staff members who were not indicted, was placed on administrative leave.
After Monday’s motion, all dispatchers and officers would have to be re-evaluated and rehired, as well as new officers hired, in a committee process that could take six months to a year.
Mr. Cornelius, the council member, said the force would be rebuilt “from the ground up.”
During the meeting, some members of the public urged the hiring process to take place quickly, expressing concerns about safety. Sheriff Matt Gentry said his deputies were being paid overtime to focus on Hanceville and cover the gap until the Police Department was in place.
Residents also pressed the council members, some of whom will be facing elections in the summer, to remain accountable.
“If it happened under your watch,” a resident said, referring to the dismantling of the department, “I would like to see it fixed under your watch.”
In February, Mr. Crocker, the district attorney, who could not be reached on Tuesday, criticized the department for having poor security in its evidence room, which had a hole in the wall. On Monday, he sent a letter to Mayor Jim Sawyer of Hanceville saying an audit of the evidence room showed that illegal substances, such as methamphetamines, were missing and firearms were found that had not been properly documented.
Mr. Crocker also said in the letter, provided to The New York Times on Tuesday, that the State Bureau of Investigation was investigating the death of Christopher Michael Willingham, 49, a 911 dispatcher whose body was found in his office last August.
No one has been charged in that death, but last month Mr. Crocker said that the jurors had concluded that Mr. Willingham’s accidental overdose from fentanyl and other drugs was the “direct result” of the department’s “negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence and disregard for human life.”
The officers who were indicted were released on bond and have not commented on the charges. Arraignments are scheduled for this month, a court source said on Tuesday.
