Undersheriff Paul Holley announced his resignation from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, October 3.
His resignation is one of many that have come from the Sheriff’s Department since the indictment and guilty pleas of five Rankin County deputies and a Richland Police officer in the torturing and beating of two black men in Braxton in January.
Darkhorse Press was unable to immediately obtain a number of deputies and other staff that have resigned or retired since the incident, but rumors swirl consistently about what’s going on behind closed doors at the sheriff’s department.
Sheriff Bryan Bailey has been all but mute since the guilty pleas. His silence has also led to a lot of questions and speculation in the Rankin County and Metro areas.
During his tenure, Holley said he pushed to make changes he felt would benefit the department. In addition to having served as military police officer in the Army, being an attorney, and a certified law enforcement officer, he is an FBI National Academy Graduate. He was at the FBI National Academy at the time of the incident that launched the chaos of the last eight months.
Here is his statement.
“Yesterday I resigned from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office. It has been the highest honor of my professional career to serve my community as counsel to the Sheriff’s Office, and more recently as the Undersheriff. During my 4 months as Undersheriff, I have implemented a number of changes that I believed were the best way to help the Sheriff’s Office improve its credibility with the community and to improve the ways in which we carry out our mission. Sheriff Bailey deserves an Undersheriff that will continue that mission and shares his beliefs on how best to accomplish that. I hope that the community will be patient with the men and women that wear the badge as they continue to serve all the citizens of Rankin County. I will continue to remain an unabashed supporter of Rankin County law enforcement and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Rankin County.I look forward to the journey ahead and the next chapter in my career.”
Morgan Howard contributed to this report.
