CHIEF WILSON

CHIEF WILSON



As those local people already know, Montgomery's police chief WIlson, has decided that it would be in the best interest of the city to take his retirement a few months early. He has been our police chief for the last 28 yrs.



In fact he repplacec another police chief that was involved in a scandal. Charles Swindle was the police chief in the 70s when a big scandal erupted about a robbery of a jewelry stored downtown.



WHITEHURST



WHITEHURST 2



Now according to the first article, Whitehurst was suspected of armed robbery of a jewlery store and was found under a house before he was shot to death by Montgomery Police officers. But I was livig here at the time and I remember hearing the radio annoucements. (back then the radio stantions competed with the TV stations to be the first on the scene) They annouced then that Whitehurst was seen running from the scene of the robbery, police shouted for him to halt and he "supposedly" turned and fired at the officers. The police shot back, killing him. The radio news man reported shortly afterwards that they couldn't find a gun on the suspect. The shooting took place around around 10am, but the police didn't find the gun until 2pm. under some bushes, near the scene. The lenth of time it took to find the gun immediately made it suspicous. It turned about to be a gun the police confiscated during a drug raid a few months before, that was mysteriously missing from the evidence room.

Several officers were either fired or resigned along with Chief Swindle, and the mayor Jim Robertson. who was popular with the people until the scandal.

Then in the eary 80s another scandal rocked the police dept. when the police chase a burlery suspect in the Todd Road area the suspect ran into a house. The police in pursuit, broke into the house, where several family members had gathered following a funeral. Accordin to the family members. no one had come through their door other than the police, who broke it and haressed and abused the family members. Several police officers were dismissed or Resigned because of that case, but Chief Wilson assured the people that he would get to the bottom of it.

He will be surely missed.