Police officer filed recall petition on Ville Platte police chief

Rodricka Taylor
·3 min read

VILLE PLATTE, La. — (KLFY) — A recall for the Ville Platte police chief has been filed by a police officer.

Things are heating up within the Ville Platte Police Department as one of their police officers, Malcolm McKinney, filed a recall petition against Police Chief Al Perry Thomas. The purpose for seeking the recall is so the voting public can exercise their right to vote for a candidate.

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“The general thought process, especially among impoverished areas, is that their vote doesn’t matter, their voice doesn’t matter and I would like to take the first step in showing the voting population and the future voters that your voice does matter and this is a chance for you to exercise your voice and your vote,” McKinney explained.

Former Police Chief Neal Lartigue was banned from running for re-election in November 2022 after the Louisiana 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled he lived outside the city limits. The ruling granted Thomas as the next police chief.

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“The current chief basically got in and on a technicality, he got in unopposed and the voting population was denied the right to exercise their right to vote,” said McKinney.

The recall petition was approved at the Secretary of State’s office on Feb. 1. In the petition Thomas is accused of leaking case information, as well as the public not feeling safe with him in office and officers not wanting to work with him.

McKinney said he made an announcement about filing a recall petition last month in a city meeting and said the chief was present.

“The decision to recall the election was not a personal one. I have no personal vendetta against him,” McKinney explained. “This is mainly a business decision being conducted on behalf of the voting population,” he said. “I’m not targeting him in any way. This is not a personal attack on Mr. Thomas. This is simply just what’s right and this is just simply a business decision at that.”

The officer said he has been working in law enforcement with the Ville Platte Police Department since 2016. Born in Sacramento, California, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona he tells News 10 he wanted to make a change for voters.

“I’ve seen various events. I’ve seen crime waves. I’ve seen the suppression of those crime waves. I’ve seen our community go through different changes. I’m very much connected to this community, even though I’m not originally from here, I am connected to this community. So I felt like instead of sitting back and complaining about what was going on, I felt like it was my place to step up and try to get something done about it,” McKinney said.

News 10 asked if there was any fear of losing his job at the station and he replied, no. He said he was told 1,511 signatures are needed and there has been some support already from people in the community.

“We are going to aim for more than that. The required criteria for the signatures is that anyone who signs this has to be a registered voter within the city of Ville Platte. So it’s not like I can just go to Opelousas, or Lafayette and just collect a bunch of signatures. It has to be from the voting public within the city itself,’ McKinney added.

News 10 reached out to the chief and he said he had no comments.

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