Chief Fred Shelton is retiring from the Columbus Police Department
The mayor and city council approved chief Shelton's letter to retire
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-After about 25 minutes in executive session on Monday July 11, 2021 the mayor and city council approved chief Shelton’s letter to retire.
About 40 people gathered at city hall; frustrated because they felt the mayor forced Shelton out of the door.
On Friday July 8, 2022; Columbus police chief Fred Shelton said he received a notice of intent to terminate from Mayor Keith Gaskin.
The chief believed his options were to resign, retire or be relieved of his duties.
“I didn’t want to resign because I felt like I hadn’t done anything wrong and then the other option was retirement and with 42 years in I thought it was a good time to submit my letter or retirement,” said Shelton.
Shelton gave a letter to the city council Monday at a special called meeting, saying he wished to retire, effective August 15th.
City leaders voted six to zero to approve his retirement, but the chief has his supporters; some community members who weren’t happy with the process.
“It’s just heartbreaking to see the chief placed in the position that he was placed in. Yes there might have been some concerns and we agree with that but we feel collectively that due process did not take place,” said Columbus resident Belinda Morris.
“Do you look back in hindsight and say can something be done differently, yes, personally though I don’t like how everything went down but he put in his retirement and I voted to accept his retirement and that’s the end of it,” said ward 5 city councilman Stephen Jones.
Shelton has been with the Columbus Police Department for over twenty years. He has served as chaplain, has ridden patrol, and served as interim chief; he held the main job for four years. His impact on the community has left it’s mark; about 40 people were at the council meeting, frustrated with the decision.
“It made me feel good and it shows that it’s a true example of community policing working because if half of those people had not had a relationship with me they wouldn’t be there to support me,” said Shelton.
Shelton has just over a month left to fulfill his chief duties, but he felt that he won’t get the chance to make all the changes he really wanted.
“One of the things if I was able to stay and to work here was to work on three things; work on the retention work on getting officers pay up to where it needs to be, work on getting us better equipment I.E. cars, radios, bullet proof vest, and the third thing was recruitment just finding better ways for people to come to this department by offering a bonus of incentives to come here,” said Shelton.
Shelton told WCBI even though he won’t be on the department he still plans to help officers who may feel burnt out to try and help relive some of their stress.
