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Employees of one small Missouri town had an extreme reaction when residents elected their first Black female mayor: 80% of the police department quit, along with the city clerk and two other staffers.

Tyrus Byrd, a former Parma, MO city council member, was sworn into office as mayor last week, but she will have to deal with a police force with only one person. Five of the town's six police officers submitted letters of resignation last week, citing only "safety concerns," according to news station KFVS.

No one knows yet exactly what "safety concerns" would make a town's public safety officers quit en masse, but Byrd has said she is still determined to clean up the city. To make the mass resignations even more suspicious, KFVS also reported that when Byrd started her first day, the officers' resignation letters could not be found, and that computers had been wiped clean.

Byrd won a close election against longtime Mayor Randall Ramsey, who held the office for 37 years. The population of Parma is slightly more than 700 people, and Byrd won by less than 40 votes. The city attorney, clerk, and waste water treatment supervisor also resigned with the police officers.

http://www.refinery29.com/2015/04/85950/police-department-quits-after-town-elects-black-woman-mayor (http://www.refinery29.com/2015/04/85950/police-department-quits-after-town-elects-black-woman-mayor)

More than two-third of the population of Parma is non-Hispanic white. So Tyrus Byrd wouldn't have won without significant white support. And the total population is just 700 or so... the population is declining at a rate of 2% to 3% per year. Strange place.  >:(

Lagos, a city in Nigeria, has around 20,000,000 population. They are reasonably happy people... not to say that they are without their problems.

Do you like the police state? At least we know how to get rid of the cops, now. The problem with Obama is that he isn't black enough. How black is Hillary?

:)

Elect a black woman, and the homocidal racist thugs in police uniform quit. Seems like a good solution to your problems in the USA. So all you republicans here, get Rice out of retirement...

Disgusting to know that even today racism exists  >:( And quoting "safety concerns"? Wow!

Glad that those police officials resigned and may be better residents can get an employment opportunity.

Any cop who quits because the mayor is a black woman should have never been given a badge.

That 80% of the police forces only make 5 people, so let's not make wild conclusions. Maybe they were sexists, since the previous mayor was a guy. What I find strange though, is that police forces are not the mayor' servants, they could have lived together. Anyway, that's a huge opportunity for the guy who stayed. Being the only one with experience, he'll be the leader when new people are hired.

That is a strange piece of news
For a population of 700 it's easy enough to know every other person in the town
So in my opinion safety concerns is a bullshit excuse to leave the force, or they were corrupt and didn't want the evidence unveiled.
(Or the mayor is evil but that would be a twist lol)

Police force getting politicized is a bad idea. Thankfully, it is only a small town.
So what happens when the next mayor comes in? You will have the existing cops resigning because a white mayor has been elected?

I have lived in Missouri before and can say it's not all like this.   This sounds like a very sad/wrong situation.

I find it interesting previous Mayor "held the office for 37 years".   Almost 40 years as Mayor is pratically a dictator ship.  I've never had a Mayor near this long that I know of.

What this makes me think of is many of the elder black folks viewing this article or those there in this town, are reminiscing of how things were back in the south in the 50s and 60s in terms of how they could be treated. Not saying these cops can't get other policing gigs if they move elsewhere but leaving a cush policing job of a town of less than a thousand is just unreal. Are their 'safety concerns' somehow linked to their neighbor state of Missouri and Ferguson in some strange way?

You can't quit, you're fired!


La Mesa, CA Mayor Art Madrid made it 24 years. He was a douchebag who jumped on our family for PR when my brother was the victim of street racers in his city. He just got unseated, yay.

Let them walk, anyone with an attatude like that should never be a cop in the first place.

Why bring Lagos in to the equation here? Lagos is the hell on earth. A huge part of the population lives on overcrowded and filthy slums, lacking the most basic amenities. And this same city is being regarded as a role model by you?

That's a ringing sound of life way over there in Africa and I don't know much more about it. Enlighten us plz.

When I read 80% I was thinking a larger number; not 4 out of 5 people  :o

But still thats such a upside down city/town whatever you want to call it. How could a mayor last 37 years? Shouldn't this guy have already retired? I would think most mayors last 10 years at most before they settle down and move onto something else.

Anyone knows her program? Is there anything what can have an impact on the police force? Maybe the officers choose to quit because of they didn't liked something in her plans and not because of they are racists. We know nothing about their real motives.

No more killing random black people?

if only obama was a woman, then the entire police state would have had to close down over night when he was elected!

Good question. What I mean is something more simple like relocating the police office, decreasing the budget, forcing them to use environmental friendly plastic bullets instead of good ole' FMJs, whatever.

Probably, he didn't had much of a competition. He personally knew most of the people in the town, and had the ability to please everyone. Not a rare situation in many of the micro-towns in rural USA.

I grew up in a village that had the same mayor for 40 years. He was very much viewed as unassailable and was supported by all the local businesses because he ran a very business-friendly village. After he won his last election, he stepped down and had the Village Board (who always ran on the same ticket as him) appoint his son mayor so he wouldn't have to win the office in an election. The son then won reelection the next cycle, so I'd say the nepotism payed off. Small town politics is usually the worst form.