Mango

MEIGS — Meigs interim police chief Antonio Mango said he is working to fill “extreme shortages” in police coverage following the termination of one of the city’s two full-time officers.

In a letter to Mayor Cheryl Walters and the Meigs City Council, Mango said he is working to fill the full-time position that was left vacant following the July 1 termination of Capt. Donald McNeil.

“Due to these extreme shortages within the department, I, interim chief Mango, cannot guarantee coverage daily or nightly,” the letter states. “I will try to provide the city with the most adequate police coverage I can during this hardship and with the limited resources of staff members that I have available to the department.”

McNeil, who along with Mango was one of the city’s two full-time police officers, was terminated from the Meigs Police Department after a recording surfaced of him appearing to use a racial slur to describe the interim chief.

Though the police department currently has three part-time officers, Mango said the city may experience limited police coverage as he searches for someone to fill McNeil’s full-time position.

The three part-time officers are employed in full-time positions for law enforcement organizations elsewhere, and their work outside of Meigs may occasionally take precedence.

Meigs previously experienced a similar shortage in police coverage in February, when Mango was left as the city’s only officer after McNeil resigned his position due to allegations of misconduct, and police chief Darrell Laster was terminated by the city council.