Okolona Police short staffed after officers quit due to low pay wtva.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wtva.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Body found hanging in tree in Okolona wtva.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wtva.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Okolona police are investigating after a man was found dead hanging from a tree. Police Chief Tommy Ivy said 45-year-old Jerrel Gillentine was found in a wooded area off Laster Drive on Thursday afternoon.
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.