An Arkansas city for weeks has been without police officers after firing its police chief, the last remaining law enforcement officer whose ouster completed an exodus of every employee on the force.
The city of Rison has been hemorrhaging officers in recent months in the wake of seven firings and resignations, with records showing several of them left within the past year for either new jobs or for personal reasons.
City leaders capped off the departure of Rison's police force after firing then-chief Peggy Stallings — the last remaining law enforcement official on Rison’s payroll — following a closed-door meeting last month.
Records obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through a Freedom of Information request show a former Rison officer worked for the department for eight days before being fired for an expired certification.
One officer resigned citing alcohol problems within two months of his hiring, according to the documents. Another listed “personal reasons” after leaving on April 30, seven months after joining the department.
The Cleveland County sheriff’s office has temporarily taken over policing duties in the roughly 1,200-population city, located about 60 miles south of Little Rock.
Stallings’ termination letter dated May 1 didn’t state a reason for the firing. Written where she would sign her name were the words: “Refused to sign.” Rison Mayor Vernon Dollar signed off on the document as a witness.
Dollar said in an interview that residents called nearly “every other day” to complain about Stallings, who became chief in September after rising through the ranks as an officer.
A 34-year resident of Rison complained in a letter to the city that Stallings acted inappropriately during a traffic stop on New Year’s Eve that saw the woman detained for impaired driving over her insistence that she hadn’t been drinking.
The letter accused Stallings of provoking the woman who was taken to the police station and later released. She asked for a blood test after a breath test didn’t register a result.
"She had a very bad attitude and her being Chief of police, she shouldn't act like that regardless of her position," the woman wrote in her letter calling for an investigation. "She can't talk and treat people [that] kind of way."
Court records don’t list any criminal charges under the woman’s name, including for DWI or other driving infractions.
“I looked at everything and the last incident, and I decided it was time to do it,” Dollar said of Stallings’ firing.
He added that many complaints were about how the former chief “talked down to people” she interacted with. “I was getting a bunch of them,” Dollar said.
Attempts to reach Stallings by phone for comment were unsuccessful.
The revolving door of Rison's five to six police officers it employs at a time is nothing new to the city nor for similar-sized agencies that grapple with retaining employees, Dollar said.
“It’s a common occurrence with small departments,” he said. “It’s not just Rison.”
Dollar, a former Arkansas Highway Police trooper, said the city has increased its focus on background checks and vetting applicants. The added scrutiny includes the eight or so résumés currently on his desk.
So far, he hasn’t set a timetable for when the city will finish rebuilding its police department.
“We’re taking our time,” Dollar said.