West Memphis Mayor speaks out about officers under investigation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Mayor of West Memphis, Marco McClendon, said this is a bad situation and does not reflect well on the city of West Memphis.

Four West Memphis Police officers are on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into accusations of sexual harassment, according to the West Memphis Police Department.

This investigation stems from accusations of an incident within the department, according to McClendon.

“This situation is internal,” he said in a phone call on Thursday.

Details about the actual incident have not been released.

“Well, I need the people to know that we are going to take any type of misconduct against, especially women very seriously,” said McClendon. “We are hoping that the allegations are not true, but if they are true definitely, we are going to handle them quickly.”

Most of the group members are in leadership positions within the department. Something that McClendon says is concerning.

“You lead by example, and when you are a top officer that you are depending on to run our department and depending on to run our department and be positive examples for our young officers and then things like this happen,” he said. “It doesn’t look good for us.”

Major Stacy Allen, Captain Ivora Hall, Captain Mose Walker, and Officer Treasure Gaither were confirmed by the Department as the officers on paid leave.

“This is an unfortunate situation. It’s not a good look for our city,” said the Mayor. “Right now, I don’t want to say what was done because I don’t have all the facts. I am still waiting on the facts.”

Allen, Hall, and Walker all moved up the ranks in the department over the years.

According to West Memphis School District’s social media Gaither is a school resource officer at West Junior High School.

We reached out to the Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Attorney General’s office to ask if they are involved in the investigation. We are waiting to hear back.

WMPD has not provided any updates on this investigation at this time.

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