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Resident urges council to reverse policy allowing off-duty Tupelo officers to wear TPD uniforms at Walmart; chief defends move
Summary
At the July 21, 2026 Tupelo City Council meeting, resident Bonnie Bear said allowing off‑duty officers to wear Tupelo Police Department uniforms while working security at Walmart risks public trust and may violate Mississippi Code §17‑25‑11; Police Chief John presented recent call data and said he will reassess the policy in six months.
Bonnie Bear, a Tupelo resident, told the City Council on July 21 that a recent decision allowing off‑duty Tupelo Police Department officers to wear their TPD uniforms, drive department vehicles and carry city‑issued firearms while working private security at Walmart is likely to cause public distrust and could violate state law.
"The decision was made to allow the Tupelo or off duty Tupelo police department officers that work for Signal Security who is contracted by Walmart to wear their TPD uniforms, drive their official crew or their cruisers, and carry their city issued firearms while conducting private security there," Bear said. "The visual to the community is that our uniformed police are protecting private interests, and their obligations during those times are to the company and not to the people." She cited Mississippi Code §17‑25‑11 and said the change could add city liability for wrongful detainment or use of force.
Police Chief John responded after the council suspended rules to allow him to speak. He said the council had authorized limited uses of uniforms and equipment before and that the department had implemented the Walmart detail only recently: "You approved it 2 weeks ago. We enacted it 2 days after that, 13 days." The chief provided preliminary incident counts for context, saying, "From January 1 till 06:30, we have responded to 224 calls of service. Those ended up being 72 incident reports" at the North Gloucester Walmart and 157 calls with 77 incident reports at the West Main Walmart.
The chief argued that sworn, uniformed officers make better decisions in high‑volume situations than undertrained private guards and said the policy is meant to expand the department's footprint in high‑crime areas when a private entity pays for the coverage: "If I have the ability to put officers in uniform and have someone else pay for it to expand my footprint in the city on any given day, I'm for it." He added he consulted his deputy chief, two city attorneys and the CEO of the office before implementing the detail and said, "I take full responsibility for this decision being made." He told the council he would reassess the arrangement in six months and pull back if it proved ineffective.
Councilmembers asked whether smaller private companies could seek the same authorization; the chief said the council controls authorizations and staff would bring requests only for "high volume, high crime" locations. Residents and at least one councilmember raised concerns about perception and equity — that uniformed officers protecting one private business could be seen differently by the public than routine patrols.
The council did not vote to reverse or modify the policy during the meeting. The chief said he would monitor outcomes and return to the council if changes were needed.
