Municipal elections are just around the corner and the number of elected police chiefs in Mississippi dropped by nearly 20 percent in recent months.
In November, the Houston Board of Aldermen voted to make its top cop position appointed. Earlier this month, the aldermen in Forest, located in Scott County, did the same thing.
There are 275 police chiefs across the state, according to the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police. Of that total, there are now just nine (3.2 percent) who are elected. The remaining elected police chief positions are in Aberdeen, Amory, Baldwyn, Brookhaven, Corinth, Iuka, Nettleton, New Albany and Okolona.