The recent suspension of four Moorhead police officers, including its chief and assistant chief, may end up costing the town more than a little bad publicity.
During Monday’s Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, President Glenn Donald commended Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood for stepping in to make sure the people of Moorhead were adequately protected during the recent incident that left the town without any law enforcement officers on duty.
“That happened one hour, the next hour the sheriff was covering Moorhead,” Donald said.
Donald said the sheriff took quick steps to make sure order was kept,
“The sheriff did his job,” Donald added.
Donald also floated the idea of Moorhead compensating the county for the time and manpower Haywood has dedicated to the situation.
Last week, Moorhead Chief Bobby Walker announced the he and four of his six patrol officers, including Assistant Chief Sherry Myers had been locked out of the police department by City Manager Percel Moore. In addition, Walker and Officer Patrick Mitchell were suspended from duty.
Moore and Mayor George Holland confirmed this.
Walker stated that the move on Moore’s part was retaliation because his officers had filed sexual harassment complaints against Moore. Walker said at the time that he did not know why he was suspended, but had only received a text message while he was off duty.
Reportedly, the two officers that were not involved in the lockout were told not to report to work by Walker.
Since then, Haywood said he has spoken to the officers and they are back on duty and because Moorhead operates under a city council form of government, the officers are to report to the city manager, who is still on duty in the city.
Haywood said the town of Moorhead is secure and protected despite the recent situations and that the officers and his deputies are protecting the citizens.
Donald asked Attorney Johnny McWilliams about the possibility of being able to recover some of the money that will have to be spent from the sheriff’s budget in order to make sure that the town has adequate law enforcement personnel. Donald said, “It’s not like they don’t have any money, it’s just that they fired or suspended the people and Moorhead was left desolate.”
Donald said at one point over the past week the sheriff had to assign deputies to the town because there were no officers on duty. “If they got the money in their budget to pay the officers and they’re just not paying because they are suspended or they fired them and we’re having to cover them so that the city of Moorhead will stay protected, I don’t see why we should have to add extra money to the budget when they can give it back to us,” Donald said.
McWilliams said the county could ask Moorhead for the reimbursement, “if they (Moorhead) would do right” however, “The sheriff is responsible for enforcing the law within Sunflower County,” McWilliams said.
The attorney added that Haywood’s department was not responsible for enforcement of municipal ordinances but is accountable for felony, state and misdemeanor violations.
Haywood was instructed to record and calculate the manhours and any overtime spent policing Moorhead so the county could request repayment. The sheriff said he is hoping that the matter will be cleared up within the next month. A Moorhead city meeting is scheduled for tonight to discuss the matter.
In other business, the sheriff reported $5,257.10 collected for the December settlement report with 3,515 meals served.
