Residents call for Vincent Police Officers to be fired after racist texts surface online.
WBRC Fox 6 News
Vincent City Council voted to dissolve its police department on Thursday.
The decision came after racist text messages between officers circulated on social media.
“This has torn this community apart. It doesn’t matter what color we are as long as we do right by people,” City Councilman Corey Abrams said.
The police department of a small Alabama town is being disbanded by city officials after a racist text from the assistant police chief circulated on social media.
On Thursday, city council suspended the police chief and assistant chief of the police department in Vincent, Alabama, a city of just under 2,000 people located southeast of Birmingham.
At the meeting, the council also voted to dissolve the police department and work with a neighboring county’s sheriff’s department for law enforcement coverage.
In the text exchange, someone identified as “752” — later confirmed to be Assistant Chief John Goss — asks an unidentified recipient: “”What do y’all call a pregnant slave?”
After the unidentified recipient responded with “?” and “??”, Goss responds: “BOGO Buy one, get one free,” ABC News reported.
According to Shelby County NAACP President Kenneth Dukes, a screenshot of the texts was shared by another Vincent officer and soon circulated outside of the police department, local news reported.
Residents attended the Vincent City Council meeting Thursday to voice their outrage at the leaked texts.
“These are people that are supposed to protect and serve, and to know they are sending these racist texts or making racist comments and things like that, it makes you not have any trust in them,” said Vincent resident Sharron Davis, according to local reports.
Vincent Mayor James Latimore confirmed to WTVM13 that both Chief James Srygley and Assistant Chief Goss had been suspended with pay pending an investigation into the texts.
A third officer turned in his resignation via text hours after the city council meeting.
At the meeting the council also voted to disband the Vincent Police Department, and work with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department instead.
“Sheriff Samaniego stands with the City of Vincent in providing emergency law enforcement related services for the citizens during this time,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Friday.
“This has torn this community apart,” City Councilman Corey Abrams said during Thursday’s council meeting, according to ABC News. “It doesn’t matter what color we are as long as we do right by people.”