JUNE 15, 2016

CITY COUNCIL ELIMINATES CITY POLICE DUE TO BUDGET WOES VIA DISAPPEARING COAL SEVERANCE MONEY FUNDING

On Monday June 13, 2016, the Inez City Council in Martin County, Kentucky voted to dissolve their police department due to budget issues.

Chief Adam Crum, the only officer in the department, is now without a job. Inez mayor Terry Fraley, and Police Commissioner, Timothy Preece, notified Chief Crum of the decision in a letter on Monday.

The letter said the police department had been dissolved after a vote by City Council and his position no longer in effect. Crum was thanked for his service and was given his current week’s pay and two weeks’ vacation pay. The now former chief Adam Crum began working for the Inez Police Department in 2004 and he was promoted to Chief in May 2008. Crum was currently the only officer working at the Inez police department.

Mayor Fraley said over the past few years the city has received less coal severance funding, and that lack of funding is the main reason the city council dissolved the police department, according to Fraley.

“Unfortunately it came a little bit faster and a little bit harder than we thought,” Fraley said.

“With the officer’s salary, health insurance, upkeep, it cost about $44,000,” Mayor Fraley added when he was talking about how much money the city will save without the department.

Mayor Fraley also stated that the city plans to sell the two cruisers and weapons used by the police department.

Martin County Sheriff John H. Kirk said his deputies will pick up for extra patrols in the city.

People living and working in Inez shared mixed emotions over the dissolving of police department. Some people were clearly worried over the elimination of the city police, while others were not concerned about the situation, saying they felt that police department has made virtually no or little presence in the last few years in the city. Still, others stated that while they still feel safe in Inez without the city police department, they also found it worrisome that a lack of funding could have such a crucial impact on a major city department.

Former chief Adam Crum refused to give any interview statements to various local media outlets, stating simply “he had nothing to say”.