An Alabama grand jury has recommended that a city’s police department be “immediately abolished,” finding there is a “rampant culture of corruption,” officials said Wednesday while announcing the indictment of five of the agency’s officers, including its police chief.
Five Hanceville police officers were arrested and charged amid a probe into the department, Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker said. The spouse of one of the officers was also charged, he said.
“This is a sad day for law enforcement, but at the same time, it is a good day for the rule of law,” Crocker said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Crocker provided limited details on the case. Though the investigation encompassed the department’s evidence room and the death of a Hanceville dispatcher, 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, who was found dead from a toxic drug combination at work, officials said.
The Cullman County grand jury found that the Hanceville Police Department has “failed to account for, preserve and maintain evidence and in doing so has failed crime victims and the public at large,” making the evidence “unusable,” Crocker said.
The grand jury further found that Willingham’s death was “the direct result of the Hanceville Police Department’s negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence and disregard for human life,” Crocker said.
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