The Vincent community reacts to racist text messages

VINCENT, Ala. (WBRC) - We spoke to residents in Vincent about the city dissolving its Police department in the wake of allegations the city’s assistant police chief sent racist text messages.

Lois Garrett was born and raised in Vincent. When she heard about what was going on, she said she couldn’t believe it.

“It knocked me off my feet because one of the police officers, the chief I always thought so highly of him,” Garrett said.

Garrett then posted it to Facebook for the world to see.

“To me that was a punch in the gut. Like going back to the 1930′s and 40′s and I often forget that we are still not there. It hurt,” Garrett said. “I was hurt and embarrassed because I thought we were better than that.”

Garret said at the city council meeting on August 2 that she stood up and said this has to stop.

The council voted Thursday to suspend the chief and assistant chief, and the only remaining officer resigned overnight.

This leaves the town without a police department and relying on the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to patrol the city, but Vincent resident Robert Franklin doesn’t think that’s a good idea.

“People tend to care more if they know you and that’s one of the things that concerning to the people in this area,” Franklin said. “We would like to have our own officers that we know that care about our town and not just the job because they work for the county.”

The city is working on a long-term contract with the county to provide a full-time deputy to focus on patrolling in Vincent.

The council promised last night to continue its investigation into who sent that text message, even though the police department is disbanding.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE WBRC FOX6 NEWS APP

Subscribe to our WBRC newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email.

Copyright 2022 WBRC. All rights reserved.