HANCEVILLE — The Hanceville City Council delayed a decision on the future of its municipal police department Thursday, Feb. 27, after five former officers were indicted on various corruption charges last week.

Swarms of Hanceville residents crowded into city hall Thursday evening to air their grievances with HPD dating back several years following a press release conducted by Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry and District Attorney Champ Crocker, where the two divulged a grand jury recommendation that the department be abolished due to the alleged wrongdoing of several officers.

Charges largely centered around the mishandling of evidence, which jurors believed to have directly led to the death of a Hanceville city dispatcher in August 2024. Other charges included the use and distribution of controlled substances and illegally accessing police databases to obtain information on unnamed residents.

Gentry said during the press conference that he had already begun preliminary negotiations with Hanceville Mayor Jimmy Sawyer and members of the Cullman County Commission to take over law enforcement services within the city based on a grand jury recommendation to “immediately abolish the HPD.”

During a nearly three-hour public hearing on Thursday, however, residents primarily rejected this proposal despite numerous personal accounts of neglect, corruption and abuse. The general consensus of those in attendance called for responsible and transparent reform efforts which would allow the remaining employees of HPD — who have currently been placed on administrative leave — to continue serving the community while holding those accused of misconduct accountable for their actions.

Council members shared that several employees who were not charged have resigned from the HPD amidst public backlash over the allegations. However, at least a dozen employees have remained steadfast despite the controversy. Two employees spoke during the meeting and said reform efforts and new policies had begun to be implemented as early as September 2024 and implored the council to consider allowing their efforts to continue.

Several residents criticized the council for their choice of venue, which left many residents with no other option to stand in the hallway.  Sawyer said he had secured an alternate location at the nearby Wallace State Community College, but said the council had been advised that it had missed a seven-day window to publicly declare a change to a meeting location.

The council elected to postpone its final decision on the future of the department until allowing additional residents an opportunity to speak and called for a special-meeting to be held Monday, March 10, at 5 p.m. in the Hanceville Civic Center.