Senatobia Police Chief Fired Over Racist Text Messages

newsone

Sep 2, 2026 - 13:00

0 2

Senatobia Police Chief Fired Over Racist Text Messages

A smiling police officer in uniform standing in front of a police vehicle at night. — Source: Senatobia Police Department / facebook

The city of Senatobia, Mississippi, has fired its police chief less than a year into his tenure and a little over a week after news reports revealed that he had been sending racist text messages to colleagues even after he was appointed to his role last fall.

Harold Vanderford attempted to submit his resignation early Tuesday, but the New York Times reports that “the city’s Board of Aldermen voted to reject it and moved to terminate him instead.”

The Senatobia Police Department has been under fire ever since the June fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley by a white police officer in the local Walmart parking lot, following an accusation of shoplifting.

As Zack Linly wrote for NewsOne last week:

According to Mississippi Today, Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford, who became chief of the department last fall, has been exposed as the latest contestant on Bigots With Badges, after an apparent colleague of his shared text messages they received from the police chief that were riddled with racial slurs and expressions of hatred for Black people.

Vanderford reportedly came to the Senatobia Police Department after the city’s elected aldermen had forced out its previous police chief due to a series of public controversies surrounding Senatobia police officers, including the arrest of a 10-year-old Black boy for urinating in public in 2023.

Vanderford was reportedly hired as chief for his “firm, fair and focused” leadership style. The 60-year-old Greenville native with 29-years in law enforcement claimed his tenure as chief would focus on “reestablishing and solidifying trust” with the community, but it appears that all the department did was bring on someone else who shouldn’t be patrolling streets full of Black people.

In a subsequent news story published Monday, Mississippi Today released the uncensored text messages and outlined how it verified they were real. The text messages the outlet shared in the story contained the following gems:

“I almost beat a n—-r and a white woman’s ass a few minutes ago.”

“N—-rs just f–k up the holidays!!! I just had a racist moment on Goodman Road!!!”

“I’m sure the n—-rs in the neighborhood are upset with me. I have screamed, ‘F–ING N—-R!!!’ 15 times. Southaven PD is probably en-route.”

There are more, of course, because there’s always more.

The person who shared the texts with Mississippi Today acknowledged that Vanderford would probably know who shared the texts with the media, but agreed to do so anyway as long as they weren’t publicly named.

According to Mississippi Today, Vanderford has not responded to requests for comment on the texts and has neither confirmed nor denied sending them.

NewsOne also reached out to the Senatobia Police Department for comment, but our requests have also gone unanswered.

Alderman Chris McConnell told the Times that the board of aldermen “did not accept Vanderford’s resignation and fired him,” and noted that the vote to fire Vanderford had been unanimous.

From the Times:

Senatobia’s aldermen had met with Chief Vanderford twice in closed-door sessions after the revelations about his text messages. After the first session on Aug. 25, a statement attributed to the mayor and the board of aldermen expressed confidence in the chief after he “voluntarily and willingly” appeared before city leaders and provided “sincere” responses to their questions. That statement did not elaborate on the questions posed to Chief Vanderford or the specifics of his responses.

Mr. McConnell issued a clarification soon after, saying he believed Chief Vanderford should address the citizens of Senatobia. He disavowed the city’s statement, saying it had not been voted upon by the Board of Aldermen even though it was attributed to them.

Alderman Demetrius Garrett told the Times he also disagreed with the city’s statement and had personally asked the mayor to resign as well.

“We need a mayor that cares about the people,” Garrett said, adding that when a city doesn’t have such a mayor, “you land yourself in situations like this.”

The latest controversy in Senatobia began with the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in June.

Senatobia police officers were responding to a report of shoplifting at the local Walmart. According to a statement issued by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, a police officer fired into a vehicle that was driving “in the direction of” officers on the scene.

Kohen Wiley’s mother was holding him in her lap at the time, and a bullet fired through the passenger-side window struck him and killed him.

The Times notes that while the officer who shot Kohen, Hunter Foster, was placed on leave two days after the shooting, which still remains under investigation, “Chief Vanderford has said nothing about the shooting publicly, and Kohen’s family said the chief hadn’t offered condolences privately.”

It’s also worth noting that Hunter Foster has been accused of using “racially offensive language with co-workers” on two separate occasions, and both occurred under Chief Vanderford’s tenure.

To protect and serve, indeed.