Selma Police Chief Kenta Fulford reinstated after two-month suspension

Kenta Fulford is back as chief of the Selma Police Department.

After a six-hour disciplinary hearing June 24, none of the nine city council members offered a motion to remove the chief, which ended Mayor James Perkins Jr.’s months-long effort to demote the chief to lieutenant and clear the way for a new leader. 

A crowd of Fulford supporters that filled the unairconditioned council chamber broke into applause as City Council President Billy Young explained that Fulford would return to the chief’s job “effective immediately.”  

Fulford said after the hearing, “This process was so crazy, but my attorneys were so excellent that I did not have to do much but stand on the truth.” When asked how it felt to be back after a two-month suspension, Fulford said, “I’ll know tomorrow.”  

The hearing opened with a dramatic showdown between Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. and the City Council over whether the hearing would be held in the open or in a closed executive session. Perkins wanted the hearing to be open, but a narrow majority of the council voted to hold the hearing in anexecutive session closed to the public.  

“There’s more at stake besides the due process of one employee,” Young said as he explained why the council decided to close the hearing to the public. “If something comes out that has the potential of litigation, it could cost us more money. We have an obligation to protect the interest of the city.” 

Perkins objected to closing the hearing, and he was upset that the council didn’t allow him to debate the council’s reasoning for holding the hearing in private. Everyone but the council, the mayor and Fulford, and their respective attorneys were removed from the council chambers. The 11 witnesses were told to wait in the lobby until they were called.  

Perkins’ charges against Fulford have been available to the public in a 228-page document since May 29. Any defense Fulford presented to the charges was delivered behind closed doors in the executive session. 

Perkins placed Fulford on administrative leave on April 30, citing “broken communication” with Selma City Schools among other issues. The mayor asked the council to remove Fulford as chief and return him to duty at the rank of lieutenant.  

Although the mayor supervises the police chief and the fire chief, the City Council hires the chiefs. The June 24 hearing was a “due process” hearing in which the mayor presented his evidence for seeking Fulford’s removal as chief. The City Council could sustain Perkins’ motion to discipline Fulford by removing him as chief or restore him to his job.  

This was Perkins’ second attempt to fire Fulford as chief. He placed the chief on leave in 2023 because Fulford didn’timmediately return from an out-of-town meeting the day the tornado struck Selma in January 2023. In that instance, the City Council voted in a narrow vote to restore Fulford to his job. 

In the 228-page document that laid out reasons for wanting Fulford removed from the chief’s office, the mayor said Fulford “lacks the vision and the critical leadership and management skills to solve departmental problems, guide the department out of deficient areas and innovatively move the department forward.” 

In the presentation, Perkins claimed Fulford’s leadership has had “an observable adverse impact on the community, destroying the confidence of residents, businesses, school districts and other stake holders in the ability of city governments and SPD to maintain public safety, strategically respond to critical public safety issues and solve violent crimes.”   

The presentation focused on the Selma Police Department’s relationship with Selma City Schools. It included communication between Selma City School Superintendent Zickeyous Byrd and Fulford in which Byrd expresses frustration about Fulford’s lack of response to requests for additional police presence during sprees of violence in the community that could spill over into the schools. Byrd also complains about lack of movement on school resource officers, crossing guards and random drug searches.  

SPD promised an enhanced presence on the Selma High School campus on the morning schools returned to in-person classes after schools were closed because of gun violence in the community. Perkins said the officers didn’t show up until almost 9 a.m., after school had already begun. 

The mayor presented documents claiming the evidence room is in “disarray,” and the computerized fingerprinting system wasn’t working. He also said the police station is not secure. The police department is also paying more overtime than similar departments, Perkins claimed. 

Fulford’s defense was presented in executive session, without public access. 

Correspondent Angela Benjamin contributed to this report.