WINGATE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) -- The Wingate Town Council meeting started normally with a public comment period. People for and against dissolving the police department spoke. Then things got interesting when town leaders left the room to go into closed session, and some of the officers stood up to speak.
"Our future is on the chopping block," said Officer Sterling Hall. "Now, as gentlemen, as men of Christ, as family men, that's one burden that we have to carry."
Wingate considers disbanding its police departmentIt started off as a question-and-answer opportunity with a couple of Wingate Police officers, which then quickly turned into a heated back-and-forth on the future of the two-stoplight college town.
"You should be able to vote," said another officer. "In other words, we will be at peace, one thing that will give us peace is to hear from the residents of Wingate of what they want."
Some of the residents didn't like that the officers seemingly took over during recess.
"It is very unprofessional that you're making this speech right now while our representatives are sitting in a hot room trying to make a decision," said one man.
Others expressed their concerns with the department's response.
"We need better law enforcement in Wingate," said another man. "21 calls in one week missed by the police department because the sheriff had to come handle it for us. We headed in that direction a long time ago."
After several minutes, town leaders came back into the room and quickly called for a vote.
"We've listened to everybody in this room and not one person has said anything negative about the sheriff's department," said Commissioner Johnny Lowery. "They're one of the best in the State of North Carolina. They look after a bunch of towns. As I sit here, I make a motion we make a contract with the Union County Sheriff's Office and thank god they're here."
They voted 4 to 1 to dissolve the department, noting there were no Wingate Police officers on duty Monday night. The decision didn't come as a shock to most.
"We had an inkling this was already pre-decided," said Hall. "We still had to come face the music. We still had to put on our uniform and show up for our citizens."
As for when the department will shut down, even the officers don't know the answer.
"We have no idea going forward what's about to happen," said Hall. "The only thing I will tell you is for the next 12 hours I will be answering calls in Wingate. I will be servicing our citizens. Tomorrow morning we'll have an officer on. Tomorrow evening as well. We're just going to take it day by day."
Queen City News crews were told the chief of police will resign in the next couple days. We asked him for a comment as he walked out of the meeting and he declined to talk with us.
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