HANCEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — As a small Alabama city weighs whether to disband its police department accused of having a “rampant culture of corruption,” residents are split over how to weigh the need for public safety against longstanding misconduct.

The city council chambers in Hanceville, Alabama, were filled to capacity on Thursday evening, forcing some to crane their necks through an open front door to hear the emotional testimony that took place.

The mayor of Hanceville placed the entire police force on administrative leave last week after a grand jury 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 said the department had a “rampant culture of corruption” and “operated as more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency. The grand jury recommended the department be “immediately abolished.”

Attorneys for the four indicted officers didn't respond to emailed requests by The Associated Press for comment on Thursday afternoon. No attorney was listed for the police chief and he did not respond to a phone call to a number listed under his name.

Many attendees on Thursday said they hoped the department would be restaffed, and expressed concerns about how public safety would be impacted without a local department. Others said misconduct predates the most recent scandal that sparked widespread outcry in the city of approximately 3,200 people about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Birmingham.

“The actions of a few has shaken the very trust between law enforcement and the people they were meant to protect," Robert Powell, lifelong Hanceville resident and civics teacher said.

The grand jury found that departmental negligence played a role in the April 2024 death of a dispatcher who was found dead at work from a suspected drug overdose. Hanceville District Attorney Champ Crocker did not elaborate on the finding, but he said that “nothing was secure about the evidence room” and the dispatcher had access to it on his final day of work.

But city clerk Tania Wilcox said she complained about separate corruption allegations in the police department to the county five months before the dispatcher died of an overdose. Wilcox didn't specify what her complaints were, but she said nothing was done until the dispatcher died.

Wilcox said that police “did everything they possibly could” to keep the city council “from getting any information” about the dispatcher's death. Wilcox echoed council members' assertions that they did not know about the charges against the officers until Febuary.

“I have had my life threatened over what went on at this police department,” Wilcox said.

Many tearfully testified to the council about ways that some officers in the department had undermined trust through excessive force and harassment before the indictments.

“Corruption is nothing new here, these news microphones have been in this town since I was a kid.” said Michael Waldorp, a lifelong resident of Hanceville. “It's constant.”

Others took to the stand to defend police officers and city employees.

Chris Johnson, a local coffee shop owner, joined a chorus of residents who said that they thought the department should be rebuilt. Johnson said that he worried about responsiveness if law enforcement duties are delegated to the sheriff’s department.

The department had approximately 12 officers prior to the indictment, according to Wilcox. But the scandal has led some officers who weren't implicated in misconduct to resign — leaving the department with just four officers who are now on administrative leave.

Former Hanceville officer Terry Cupp quit following the indictments, just one month after the mayor honored him for resuscitating the life of an infant. City council member Patty Dean-Tucker questioned what would happen if he is not replaced.

“Where would that family be if we hadn't had him here? Think about it. It could've been your grandchildren,” Dean-Tucker said.

The council called for a special meeting to consider the future of the department on March 10.

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Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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