Police Force (mostly) quits after Black Women elected Mayor

[Darth Nostril]

Rumours surfacing of longstanding problems with the towns water supply and apparently computer hard drives being erased by the departees.

[bilateralrope]

Rumours surfacing of longstanding problems with the towns water supply and apparently computer hard drives being erased by the departees.

I found an article that says that:
Parma residents react to loss of police officers

Residents in Parma, Missouri reacted on Wednesday after learning more than half of their police department resigned.

The loss in force comes as the newly elected mayor is sworn in.

Of the six officers, two full-time and three part-time stepped down.

Some say they're not worried about their safety and it wasn't necessary to have that many on staff for a city the size of Parma.

Some say they're relieved about the situation and that Parma doesn't have that many problems in town to require so many officers.

“I think it was pretty dirty the way they all quit without giving her a chance, but I don't think they hurt the town with quitting because who needs six police for 740 people?” said Martha Miller of Parma.

As for why the police and three other city employees resigned, Mayor Tyrus Byrd is still trying to figure that out.

The resignation letter could not be found.

"They say we have six cops on the payroll. How can we have six cops and we go days without cops patrolling and we have these recent break-ins?” asked one Parma resident.

Former Mayor Randall Ramsey said it had to do with "safety concerns."

Mayor Tyrus Byrd began her first day in office with a clean slate. Literally.

Mayor Byrd said the resignation letters cannot be found and that the computers were cleared.

"We needed somebody young and energetic to help our town and that is what we need,” said one Parma resident.

She said she is receiving outside help from other communities and folks are reaching out to help their town rebound.

Some residents agree the city needs it.

"Just ready to get the town back to the way it was, back to the flow of business,” said another Parma resident.

The mayor said her experience as city clerk years ago will help.

As for when the vacant positions will be filled, it's unclear at this time.

This sounds more and more like some serious criminal activity and a panicked coverup.

[TheHammer]

Again, more investigation is needed and not simply acceptance of rumors and accusations as facts.

[Ralin]

Again, more investigation is needed and not simply acceptance of rumors and accusations as facts.

Did anyone claim otherwise? Doesn't mean we who have fuck all to do with it can't form opinions based on what's been made public so far

[Zeropoint]

Get those computers to a reputable forensic data specialist, stat!

[KroLazuxy_87]

The latest:
Resignations in tiny Parma, Mo., baffle town's first black mayor

PARMA, MO. • The drugstore is long gone. So, too, are the bank and the barbershop, the opry house and the hardware store.

All that is left of downtown are collapsed awnings, caved-in ceilings and broken windowpanes of century-old buildings.

And now that the city of Parma has elected its first black mayor, the town of about 700 residents is suffering another kind of abandonment: Six of its 11 employees — including the police chief, city clerk and water department supervisor — have resigned.

“I don’t understand,” said Tyus Byrd, who was sworn in as mayor a week ago. “I never said anything about cleaning house.”

People here cite a variety of reasons for the departures. Hurt feelings. Worries about being fired. Loyalty to the former mayor, who had been in power for much of the past half-century.

“I don’t want Al Sharpton showing up here. I’ll tell you that,” said Martha Miller, the owner of Miller’s Store who campaigned for Byrd.

Miller said Byrd’s victory and the subsequent resignations had nothing to do with her race, but others disagreed.

“I think it’s about being a woman and being black,” said Nelvia Donaldson, who is also African-American, and was elected alderman in April. “He (former Mayor Randall Ramsey) thought he had it in the bag.”

A LONG SLIDE

Ramsey had good reason to believe he would win re-election. He was first elected mayor in 1962 when he was just 25 years old. Even he acknowledges that during his tenure, the city went downhill. That’s not to say it was his fault.
The story of this city in Missouri’s Bootheel is no different than that of many once-bustling and now-deserted municipalities scattered along the fertile banks of the lower Mississippi River.

As farming became more mechanized, 40-acre family run operations were subsumed by 4,000-acre agribusinesses, pushing away jobs and residents.

Ramsey’s first stint in office lasted 12 years. He took a long hiatus and ran again in 1991, serving for the next 24 years.

Supporters credit him with keeping the city afloat during hard times, and curtailing crime by using federal grants to hire full-time police officers.

But some residents said those officers hurt the city more than they helped.

“They will literally be out in the morning with a measuring tape, measuring your grass,” said Terrell Thatch, 32, a cousin of Byrd’s.

Byrd, 40, a stay-at-home mom, grew up in Parma. She briefly served as city clerk about eight years ago, before leaving for a job in Kokomo, Ind. She moved back in 2012 to care for her father, who had prostate cancer.

She decided to run for office after hearing people complain about the police and how the city was being run.

“I would hear things from the residents,” she said. “Everybody knows everybody.”

She said she ran on a platform of “changing Parma together.”

“The residents wanted to build trust again and work with the city officials to bring this city back together,” she said.

A TASER AND A TEEN

About a month before the election, a white part-time Parma police officer used a Taser on a 17-year-old black youth.
Shatekia Thatch — also a cousin of the new mayor — said her son, Christopher Ward, was walking down the street when the officer approached him about prank phone calls that had been made to the police department that evening.

Shatekia Thatch, 34, gets emotional as she talks about the incident several weeks ago where a Parma police officer tased her son, Christopher Ward, 17, on April 20, 2015, in Parma, Mo., after Ward reportedly made a crank call on the public phone seen across the street on the corner at right. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Thatch said that when her son refused to speak to the officer, the cop used his Taser on Ward, arrested him and booked him at the police station.

Rich Medley, a former assistant police chief, said the officer acted within his bounds and used his Taser only when Ward tried to flee.

“He acted within procedure,” Medley said.

The incident prompted a small crowd of African-American residents to show up at the police station that night to find out what had happened.

In the April 7 election, 122 people voted for Byrd. Ramsey received 84 votes. It was about double the typical turnout.

Byrd said she walked into City Hall a week later to pay her water bill and tried to say hello to the mayor and other city employees but was met with silence.

Then just before her swearing-in ceremony at City Hall last week, a local television reporter pulled her aside. Did she know that a number of employees had just quit? The reporter told her the employees had cited “safety reasons.”

Byrd didn’t know what to make of it.

“Am I the safety issue?” she asked.

Medley, the former assistant chief, said that officers had run-ins with many of Byrd’s relatives. After her election, Medley saw several Facebook postings by people with whom officers had issues, celebrating her victory, he said. The most concerning of those mentioned Medley by name and the city where he lives, he said.

He added that he resigned out of fear that he would not be able to do his job.

“Rather than put my life in danger more than I do now on a daily basis, I decided to walk away,” he said.

Medley acknowledged that Byrd had never threatened to fire officers, nor publicly indicated that she would interfere with police.

In addition to Medley, two reserve officers resigned, along with Police Chief Trish Cohen, the city’s only other full-time officer. Cohen declined to comment.

PERKS AT CITY HALL

When Byrd showed up for work at City Hall, she was unable to locate financial statements, the book of ordinances, budget, meeting minutes or any other city documents.
“There’s nothing,” Byrd said.

As it turns out, Kim Hampton, who has been city treasurer for 24 years and runs the Mahan Gin, keeps many Parma financial documents in a 14-by-14-foot fireproof safe at the cotton gin.

“I do all of my job here,” said Hampton, who did not resign.

Asked how the city could fulfill public records requests when the documents weren’t at City Hall, Hampton said, “They (the residents) all know where I’m at.”

Newly elected Parma Mayor Tyus Byrd shows the city credit cards that were cut up (even though they were still current) after she became the mayor on April 20, 2015. She asked for the credit cards from the city treasurer. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Byrd said she eventually obtained some account statements. A few of those statements showed that city employees routinely used city credit to purchase personal items, and then paid the city back by having money withheld from their paychecks over a period of months.

Ramsey said he allowed the practice because the city did not offer employees benefits, and the wages were low.

“In my mind, I considered it a benefit of the job, like having a credit union,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said Byrd didn’t reassure employees their jobs would be safe. In a fourth-class city such as Parma, Ramsey said, the Board of Aldermen, along with the mayor, hires and fires employees. But over the years, aldermen gave him that sole authority and went along with his personnel decisions.

He said employees probably assumed that Byrd would enjoy that power.

“I feel like they didn’t want to hang around and get fired,” he said.

But Byrd said she didn’t even have a chance to talk with employees.

Ramsey said he lost the election because black residents — more than a third of the city’s population — turned out to vote for Byrd. He said it’s possible the Taser incident motivated them.

“I have always had a good rapport with the black community as far as I know,” Ramsey said. “But it wasn’t good enough.”

Ramsey, now 78, said he believes that things might have worked out for the best.

“You wear out your welcome,” he said. “Or stay too long sometimes.”

Parma Cop: I Feared New Mayor Would Keep Me From Doing My Job

One of the Parma, Mo., police officers who resigned just before the town's new mayor took office last week said that he was concerned the new mayor would interfere with his job.

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published on Tuesday morning, Rich Medley, the former assistant police chief, said that he feared that he would not be able to work under Tyrus Byrd (pictured above on the right), the city's first black female mayor.

"Rather than put my life in danger more than I do now on a daily basis, I decided to walk away," he told the Post-Dispatch.

The week before Byrd took office, five of the city's six police officers resigned from their jobs. Three other city officials resigned as well, citing "safety concerns."

According to Medley, he had negative experiences with Byrd's relatives, and he said that numerous Byrd supporters with whom the Parma police had had run-ins mentioned him by name on Facebook when celebrating Byrd's victory.

Medley told the Post-Dispatch that Byrd never said she would fire any officers or direct officers on how to do their jobs.

According to the Post-Dispatch, a white part-time police officer allegedly used a stun-gun on the son of the new mayor's cousin. Shatekia Thatch, Byrd's cousin, claimed that the officer approached her son, Christopher Ward, about prank phone calls to the police department. When Ward would not talk about the prank calls, the officer allegedly used his stun-gun on Ward and arrested him, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Medley told the Post-Dispatch that the police officer "acted within procedure."

Upon taking office, Byrd expressed confusion over the sudden resignations of numerous city employees. She told KFVS that she could not find the resignation letters in City Hall.

Byrd told the Post-Dispatch that she never suggested that she would fire any city employees upon taking office.

"I don’t understand,” she said. "I never said anything about cleaning house."

Byrd told the Post-Dispatch that she ran for mayor due to complaints about the relationship between the Parma police and the city's black residents.

"The residents wanted to build trust again and work with the city officials to bring this city back together," Byrd said.

In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, former mayor Randall Ramsey contributed his election loss to higher turnout on the part of the the black population in Parma voting for Byrd. According to the Post-Dispatch, Parma saw about double the typical voter turnout for the mayoral race.

"I have always had a good rapport with the black community as far as I know," Ramsey told the Post-dispatch. "But it wasn’t good enough."

Ramsey served as Parma's mayor for a total of 37 years, during two separate terms. He lost the election to Byrd by 37 votes.

[General Zod]

Looks like I totally called it. It's not because they're racist, it's because they were scared their kickbacks would stop.

[TheHammer]

Looks like I totally called it. It's not because they're racist, it's because they were scared their kickbacks would stop.

That's not how I read it. I believe *I* called it - they didn't want to work with the Mayor because of negative past experiences with her and her relatives.

Presuming by "kickbacks" you were talking about this?

Byrd said she eventually obtained some account statements. A few of those statements showed that city employees routinely used city credit to purchase personal items, and then paid the city back by having money withheld from their paychecks over a period of months.

That's a relatively minor perk afforded at many companies. If that's the worst she could find then there probably wasn't anything more to it than dislike between her and the staff.

[General Zod]

Looks like I totally called it. It's not because they're racist, it's because they were scared their kickbacks would stop.

That's not how I read it. I believe *I* called it - they didn't want to work with the Mayor because of negative past experiences with her and her relatives.

I think the bit about her relatives is just an excuse.

Byrd said she eventually obtained some account statements. A few of those statements showed that city employees routinely used city credit to purchase personal items, and then paid the city back by having money withheld from their paychecks over a period of months.

Ramsey said he allowed the practice because the city did not offer employees benefits, and the wages were low.

“In my mind, I considered it a benefit of the job, like having a credit union,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said Byrd didn’t reassure employees their jobs would be safe. In a fourth-class city such as Parma, Ramsey said, the Board of Aldermen, along with the mayor, hires and fires employees. But over the years, aldermen gave him that sole authority and went along with his personnel decisions.

[Elheru Aran]

It's a small town, everybody's going to be related to some degree. If you can't deal with that, you have no business working there.

Largely it sounds like this is mostly a hasty reaction to the shake-up the status quo is getting with the election of a new mayor, combined with a big dose of people not wanting their podunk shenanigans being hauled into the spotlight.

[Adam Reynolds]

I think the biggest takeaway in this story is that the media is useless, especially internet journalism, which goes for shocking over true.

It is interesting that the media lies in exactly the same fashion as Emperor Palpatine, by only telling the parts of the truth that help whatever message they have.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Its a town of 700 not 1000. They may seem like a nitpick, bit its a 30% difference. Six full-time officers would be an extremely high officer to population ratio

The fuck are you smoking? Assume 8 hour shifts. That is 3 shifts a day with two officers each, without days off. To get days off you have to have 12 hour shifts, or worse, start operating like fire departments with a 1 on 2 off schedule with 24 hour shifts.

[TheHammer]

Its a town of 700 not 1000. They may seem like a nitpick, bit its a 30% difference. Six full-time officers would be an extremely high officer to population ratio

The fuck are you smoking? Assume 8 hour shifts. That is 3 shifts a day with two officers each, without days off. To get days off you have to have 12 hour shifts, or worse, start operating like fire departments with a 1 on 2 off schedule with 24 hour shifts.

Why would you presume 24/7 coverage and 2 officers per shift? Certainly neither thing is required. State and County police would provided coverage and backup to city officers.

This data from 2003 indicates that Average police ratio in the US is 2.6 full-time officers per 1000 population in cities of 1,000 to 2,499 population. The ratio here would be 8.5 per 1,000 residents if all officers were full time. So what exactly would I need to be smoking in order to do basic math?

Looks like I totally called it. It's not because they're racist, it's because they were scared their kickbacks would stop.

That's not how I read it. I believe *I* called it - they didn't want to work with the Mayor because of negative past experiences with her and her relatives.

I think the bit about her relatives is just an excuse.

Byrd said she eventually obtained some account statements. A few of those statements showed that city employees routinely used city credit to purchase personal items, and then paid the city back by having money withheld from their paychecks over a period of months.

Ramsey said he allowed the practice because the city did not offer employees benefits, and the wages were low.

“In my mind, I considered it a benefit of the job, like having a credit union,” Ramsey said.

LOL really? You think that they quit because they would possibly no longer receive the perk of "unofficial credit union"? As I said, this is a benefit afforded at many companies and hardly constitutes an extravagant perk. By all accounts, money was paid back from employee's checks, its not as though they were embezzling the funds.

Obviously the only people who knows why they quit are the people who quit, but I find your scenario to be among the least likely reasons.