A longtime Columbus police officer who the department has turned to for interim leadership more than once, has been suspended.
And another Columbus Police Department veteran has turned in his badge.
Lt. Carroll Culpepper, an administration commander with the CPD, has served with the department for 27 years. Earlier this month, he was suspended for a week after allowing CPD Cpl. Spence Wallingford to use his work computer for personal reasons.
Wallingford also was using his CPD-issued patrol car for personal use, Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John confirmed this morning.
“Basically, we had a situation where we were investigating the (CPD) vehicle being taken out,” St. John said, noting a police computer also was being used for things not related to police work. “The supervisor was aware of at least the computer use.”
During the course of the investigation, the embattled Wallingford, who has been with the CPD for 17 years, submitted his resignation, effective Dec. 14.
“We want everyone to know that we take our jobs seriously,” St. John said, noting department equipment is for police work only.
Wallingford — along with CPD officers Wade Beard, Heath Beard and Robert Walker — previously was suspended for 15 days after a May incident at the Vicksburg National Military Park.
The suspension equated to about a month off work and more than $3,000 in pay. The foursome, who issued a letter of apology, were called home from a three-day field sobriety training course sponsored by the Sobriety Trained Officers Representing Mississippi. They also were placed on probation for six months.
According to testimony from Park Ranger Patricia Montague, the Columbus police officers, along with Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office Deputy Scott Glasgow and his fiancée, Ashley Kemp, caused a ruckus at the park with the doors of the marked CPD cruiser open and its sirens going. Additionally, Glasgow and Kemp were riding in the trunk with a fire extinguisher used to prop the trunk open.
The CPD officers lost a June appeal to the Columbus Civil Service Commission and have filed an appeal in Lowndes County Circuit Court. The case is scheduled to be heard in February. It was continued from its Nov. 20 date before 16th Circuit Judge Lee Howard.
Glasgow was given a letter of reprimand.
In The Dispatch”s 2008 “To the Rescue” special section, Wallingford said he enjoys knowing he”s made a difference in the community.
Culpepper served as acting police chief in late December 2008 and early January this year, when St. John requested a leave of absence to handle personal matters.
In St. John”s absence, Lt. Carroll Culpepper acted as interim chief while Assistant Police Chief Joe Johnson was on vacation.
In February 2008, Culpepper served as acting police chief when Lt. Keith Worshaim and St. John were both placed on administrative leave after discharging their weapons in an attempt to stop Lannell Hearn. Hearn, on Feb. 29, 2008, opened fire on former Columbus City Councilman Kamal Karriem and Hearn”s wife, Dorothy at the Town Square Shopping Center off 18th Avenue North in Columbus.
Hearn, now 72, was shot by police officers and recovered at the University Medical Center in Jackson. Hearn later was convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a police officer with a weapon. He was sentenced to a total of 38 years for the crimes and is housed at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl.
At the time of the February 2008 incident, Johnson was on administrative leave, stemming from a Jan. 31, 2008, police shooting.
Justin Smith, 21, of Columbus ,was shot dead while Johnson and Sgt. Rick Jones were responding to a burglary call in late January ”08. Any time officers discharge their weapons, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations looks into the incident, and the officers are placed on administrative leave.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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