By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor
MARGARET – The Margaret City Council accepted a letter of resignation from Margaret Police Chief James Thompson during the regular council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Thompson had only officially been in the position since Nov. 1, but served as interim chief approximately four months prior to being appointed in November.
The letter of resignation, as read by City Clerk Teja McIntyre, states: “Dear City of Margaret, this letter represents my official notice of resignation from my position of Chief of Police with Margaret, being made the final date the 13th day of December. It has been my great pleasure to be alongside the individuals at Margaret, and I will always appreciate the experience and knowledge I gained during my time here. Sincerely, James Thompson.”
After accepting the letter, the council moved to the next item on the agenda, which was to appoint an interim police chief.
With the city currently not having a mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Daryl McIntyre had already appointed Margaret Police officer Anthony Fields to be the interim head of the police department, which City Attorney Erskine Funderburg said was within his rights.
According to Councilor Matthew Tortorice, the city council could either vote to corroborate that appointment or move to vote for a different interim.
A heated discussion was held during the pre-council business meeting, where Tortorice said that the council and mayor pro tem had discussed holding a special-called meeting to consider their options for the position, but that meeting never came to fruition.
“We hired basically the newest employee we have straight into the interim police chief position,” Tortorice said during the business meeting. “We have two good candidates that are still available … and we’ve already been through the interview process, the background check process, and that was basically a month ago.”
Tortorice was referring to the interview process that was done prior to hiring Thompson in November.
“I wanted to make a motion to hire Richard Bell from the Anniston Army Depot,” he said after the regular council meeting. “He was our second-best candidate (after Thompson).”
During the business meeting, several accusations were made by council members and Officer Fields regarding rumors, allegations, and lies.
Tortorice claimed that Officer Fields had pressured him into saying that Fields was the best choice for the interim police chief position but that he (Tortorice) originally said he didn’t want to name anyone at the time.
Fields denied pressuring Tortorice into making such a statement, stating that he did not come to the city of Margaret with any intention of becoming the police chief.
“I asked you, as a man … who would be your choice?” Fields said to Tortorice. “I’m going to tell you exactly what you said: you said, ‘You.’
“I also asked you this: Is it my (skin) color you got a problem with?” Fields added. “You never answered.”
Tortorice said that, to him, repeatedly asking him to name his recommendation after he had already stated he did not want to name anyone at that time was his definition of “pushing.”
“He repeatedly asked me, was pushing me to make a statement,” he said. “… You’re accusing me of not saying your name because of your skin color; you’re calling me racist.”
With tempers seemingly on the rise, Mayor Pro Tem McIntyre ended the discussion during the business meeting. The discussion picked back up during the regular council meeting when Tortorice made a motion for the council to go into executive session to discuss the interim chief position. Councilor Jonathan Ray seconded the motion, but it failed when McIntyre and councilors Darius Crump and James Chapman did not vote.
“Well, since we don’t want to go into executive session, we’ll just put it out there,” Ray said. “When all this first happened, you, Mayor Pro Tem, stated that we did not have to have an interim chief, or a chief, in order for the city police department to move forward.”
McIntyre said Ray was lying, and Funderburg, the city attorney, said that there is no law requiring a city to have an interim chief.
“That’s a policy of ALEA (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency) that you’re talking about,” Funderburg said. “That’s just a policy; there’s no law that requires it. … It’s just you don’t have access to certain things that ALEA has, but you still have arrest power, and you still have the ability to enforce the laws of the state. ALEA has programs and things that you want to enable them to access criminal histories, things like that, quickly. And they have policies … that’s something they created, but there’s no law that requires it.”
When McIntyre called for a motion to adjourn the meeting, councilors Ray and Tortorice both said they had additional business they were wanting to discuss. McIntyre, Chapman, and Crump voted to adjourn and promptly left the council chambers.
Ray and Tortorice remained in their seats at the dais and, for approximately 40 minutes, took direct questions and held discussions with the citizens who were present in the audience.
“I came because I’ve been a concerned citizen,” Delmetrius Bishop said. “I’ve been living in Margaret for 13 years … our biggest problem that I see here is the police department. Of course, I’m pro-police, but I want us to look at the fact that we need to find somebody that’s going to protect and serve us. I’ve personally called the police, and you’re talking 30-40 minutes before the police even get there or don’t show up at all. This is under different administrations. I’m not pointing fingers at one administration; I’m pointing fingers at multiple. … When are we going to sit down and find somebody that fits us and that can bring good things to the city instead of the bad?”
Tortorice said that Bishop’s point was perfect.
“We’ve had, what, nine police chiefs in as many years?” Tortorice said. “I mean, we can’t seem to get our act together. We need a police department that follows the law.”
Bishop added that, to him, community policing is important.
“That’s something I see Margaret lacks,” he said. “I’m all for all the other stuff – getting the criminals off the street, getting the bad guys – but at the same time, you need to show faces. These people in my neighborhood, they don’t even know who the police officers are; they don’t know who the police chiefs are. All they see is a different person in a different car every time because we fire and hire, fire and hire.”
“Our biggest problem,” Tortorice said, “without going into too much detail, is we have a police department that serves the council members and not the city. I feel like that’s one of the things that I want to see the most changed, that we’ll have a police department that is able to and does serve the law and the city … We can’t have people who are being held under the thumb of any council member or mayor. The police department should be able to do their jobs.”
For now, Officer Fields will continue in his position as the interim head of the police department. The city will likely have to go through the application and interview process again before hiring a new police chief, Tortorice said in a post-meeting interview.
The next meeting of the Margaret City Council will be Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at Margaret City Hall, beginning at 6 p.m.
Crystal McGough can be contacted at mcgoughcrystal@gmail.com