We Should Keep Armstrong

Walter Armstrong has been the Vicksburg Police Department’s Chief of Police since 2009.  Since he took over the police department every serious crime in our community has been solved.

That is a significant achievement.

Additionally, since he took over our police officers have been outfitted with new equipment including new weapons, tasers and body cameras.  Those cameras keep the officers on their professional toes and give those who would complain little wiggle room.  The number of credible complaints against our police department has all but disappeared since Chief Armstrong installed those body cameras.  Promotions, training and raises have also been done at an unprecedented pace.

Perhaps most important of all, officer morale has also been restored since Chief Armstrong took over.  The police force was severely understaffed and moral was very low when Armstrong took over.  His leadership fixed that.  He is also the current First Vice-President of the Mississippi Police Chiefs Association and will in all probability be the President of that prestigious organization next year.  He would be the first Chief from Vicksburg to attain that lofty title.

Oh, and our small town police department also gained accreditation.  The accreditation means we do things the right way and is a really big deal for a town our size.

What we suffer is petty crime.  And it’s not just us, it’s the way the world is turning right now.  It will stay that way around here until we build a new jail.  To our credit, we don’t hide our crime numbers like other law enforcement agencies.  Our crime is no greater or worse than any other small city in the south.  The way we report that crime is the issue.  That subject, crime reporting,  is a topic to be covered another day.

George tried to replace Chief Armstrong and Fire Chief Adkins in 2013.  George was voted down by the two Aldermen and we retained Chief Armstrong and Chief Adkins.  Here we are in 2017 with a new Board of Mayor and Aldermen coming in and George is once again trying to install someone other than Armstrong as the Police Chief.  All the credible reports say George’s choice is most likely Milton Moore.

Milton Moore is a good guy.  His experience has been almost entirely in patrol, that includes being the watch commander.  He has spent zero time administrating a budget, overseeing criminal investigations, overseeing the juvenile areas, overseeing narcotics investigations, administering the civilian personal, overseeing internal investigations or administering the accreditation program or any of the duties a Chief of Police is charged with doing.

Why?  Why Milton over Chief Armstrong?

Is it because Milton gets along with Mayor Flaggs verses Chief Armstrong who stands up for what is right for the police department?  Issues like this make one wonder what priorities Mayor George Flaggs holds important for our city.  If he was truly concerned about the police department he would keep Chief Armstrong.  For all the good Mayor Flaggs has done he needs to be supportive of the Chief and the department.

The police department is not broken, quit trying to fix it, George.

The North Ward Alderman, Michael Mayfield, voted to keep Chief Armstrong in 2013 and has indicated he will support Chief Armstrong again in 2017.  That is one vote from Mayfield to keep the Chief and one vote to oust him from George.  That means it all comes down to Alderman-elect Alex Monsour.  Monsour’s platform for the South Ward Alderman’s position was to give George a second vote.  Also, isn’t Monsour’s voting history to have voted the party line (that link goes to his voting history) on every vote during his tenure in the legislature?  Is Monsour making a political career of being the guy the Republican party and people like George can count on for a second vote?

Alderman-elect Monsour the challenge before you is to do what is right for your newly adopted community.  The police department is not broken, as a matter of fact it is operating at the highest level it has in modern history.  Alex, be your own man and don’t try to fix what is not broken.