POLICE CHIEF JIMMY MARTIN SHOULD RESIGN
A City Hall source informed this site that the number of certified police officers in the Selma Police Department has dropped to a dangerously low level. This source tells us that there are only 46 certified officers to patrol and provide security for the citizens of Selma.
In 2000, the City recieved a COPS Grant which recommended 72 officers for a city the size of Selma. The COPS Grant provided funding to hire additional police officers for Selma. The number of officers recommended were never hired. This was the responsibility of Mayor Perkins!
The Mayor had knowledge of this and allowed this to happen. It is a direct result of his micromanaging. Since the decline in the number of police officers, crime has risen at an alarming rate.
Sources in the city inform us that crime in Selma is much worse than the public knows. One source tells us that serious crimes are not only being hidden from the public, they are not being reported to the State so Selma's crime rate will look smaller than it is.
This source also tells us that Mayor Perkins and Police Chief Martin have pressured the Selma Times-Journal to not report crimes, but to report when a crime is solved, accompanied by Martin's picture and quote. This gives the public a false sense that crime is being curtailed.
This practice started when Jimmy Martin became Police Chief. As one can see, crime is out of control in Selma with no remedy in sight. There are promises from the Mayor and from the Police Chief that great things are happening. Judge for yourself. The only thing happening is that crime is escalating.
It is the opinion of this site, as we look at earlier information post on this site about the Police Department, that Police Chief Martin should immediately resign! His resignation is the only way to get a handle on crime and motivate the officers who have been mistreated and professionally abused.
