Alabama city leaders vote to replace and rebuild troubled police
department
[March 11, 2025]
HANCEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama city is moving to replace and
rebuild its entire police department after a grand jury found a "rampant
culture of corruption” on the small police force.
The Hanceville City Council on Monday voted to immediately suspend
department operations and search for a new police chief to build a new
department and hire employees. The mayor had already placed the entire
department on administrative leave.
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A Hanceville resident gives an emotional testimony about whether the
local police department should be disbanded, in Hanceville, Ala.,
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle) |
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The sweeping change comes after a grand jury in February
indicted four officers and the police chief on a variety of
charges that included accusations of mishandling or removing
evidence from the department’s evidence room. The grand jury
also recommended disbanding the small police department.
The council's decision followed a nearly two-hour meeting in
which some members of the public said it was unfair to
department employees who did nothing wrong. Others argued it was
time to start fresh. The department has about 12 employees,
officials said.
The decision also came on the same day Cullman County District
Attorney Champ Crocker released the preliminary results of an
audit of the police department's evidence room.
Several items were missing from the evidence room, including 67
oxycodone pills, 39 gabapentin pills, 1.5 grams of cocaine and a
.25-caliber handgun, Crocker wrote in a letter to the city's
mayor about the findings. He said the audit also found about 30
undocumented firearms in the evidence room.
“These results of the evidence audit are shocking but not
surprising,” Crocker wrote in the letter to the city’s mayor.
In a news conference last month, Crocker said the department's
evidence room was not kept secure. He showed photos of a hole in
the wall and a green broomstick that was used to “jimmy open”
the door.
The Cullman County Sheriff's Office has taken over law
enforcement duties as city officials weigh what to do with the
department. Located in the county, Hanceville is 45 miles (70
kilometers) north of the central city of Birmingham.
The State Bureau of Investigations was called in to investigate
after a police dispatcher was found dead at work from a
suspected drug overdose.
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