A small town called Parma in Missouri is getting national attention after nearly the entire police force resigned following the election of a black mayor. Former city clerk Tyus Byrd defeated 37-year incumbent Randall Ramsey to become the town’s first black female mayor, only to learn from a local reporter before her swearing in that 11 of the town’s municipal employees had quit, including five out of its six police officers.
No one knew what to make of the mass resignations, the least of all Byrd. A few days later, one of the resigning police officers made a statement. Via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Medley, the former assistant chief, said that officers had run-ins with many of Byrd’s relatives. After her election, Medley saw several Facebook postings by people with whom officers had issues, celebrating her victory, he said. The most concerning of those mentioned Medley by name and the city where he lives, he said.
He added that he resigned out of fear that he would not be able to do his job. “Rather than put my life in danger more than I do now on a daily basis, I decided to walk away,” he said. Medley acknowledged that Byrd had never threatened to fire officers, nor publicly indicated that she would interfere with police.
It’s worth noting at this point that Parma is hardly a crime ridden den of violence. It’s a small agricultural town with barely 700 people. But the community did have its issues with the police; some locals claimed that they were big on handing out fines, even checking the length of peoples’ lawns with tape measures. And some attribute the huge spike in voting this election to an incident where the cops tasered a teenage boy over accusations he had made prank phone calls to the police station.
As far as many of the citizens of Parma are concerned, they’re not too worried in the sudden drop in police presence. As resident Martha Miller told KFVS, “I think it’s pretty dirty they all quit without giving her a chance. But I don’t think they hurt the town any by quitting, because who needs six police for 740 people?”
Meanwhile, mayor Tyus Byrd has been busy tracking down missing financial documents and meeting minutes. Already discovered were dozens of credit cards for the town being used for personal purchases, with the treasurer admitting that employees were allowed to “borrow” money from town coffers “like a credit union.”
Whether that credit union always got paid back remains to be seen, but it sounds like Byrd has only begun to scratch the surface of what was going on in Parma. A few more discoveries like this, and it might make more sense why so many people jumped ship once the town came under new management.