Department reduced by half as Calhoun City Police Chief, 2 officers resign

CALHOUN CITY, Miss. (WCBI) – Half of Calhoun City’s police department has called it quits, including the chief.

Calhoun City Mayor Marshall Coleman confirmed that Chief Ralph Horton resigned without notice after being placed on five-day administrative leave.

Horton reportedly took all of the department’s officers to an out-of-town conference, leaving the town in Coleman’s words “unsecured”.

Two other officers reportedly followed Horton and resigned.

According to the Calhoun County Journal, that leaves the town’s police department with only three officers, all of whom are non-certified.

Coleman said measures are being taken to make sure that Calhoun City is patrolled and protected while the department rebuilds, and he’s taking measures to keep something like this from happening again.

“And so, looking at what’s happened here in the past, and what happened this time, is that I will be talking to the board later on tonight about auxiliary officers that we can have that’ll be here no matter what, that we can call on to make sure that our town is never again left unprotected,” said Coleman.

In Calhoun City’s latest budget, the Board of Alderman had approved Horton’s request to expand the Calhoun City Police Department from five full-time officers to six.

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