“Pretty shocking”: Volusia Sheriff’s Office closes investigation into Holly Hill police officers

HOLLY HILL, Florida. – The months-long investigation into four Holly Hill police officers has been concluded, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, which led the investigation.

The police chief and a captain resigned shortly after the investigation began, but two sergeants are still on leave due to allegations of “inappropriate incidents.”

Although the results are not yet public, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6 that what he saw was “pretty shocking.”

The city manager has received both the summary and the results and now has 45 days to decide how to proceed.

“If this is true, it is quite shocking that the leadership of a police organization would engage in such behavior,” Chitwood said.

The sheriff said more than 30 people were interviewed as part of the investigation.

“We just conducted the interviews and then regurgitated the content of those interviews and tried to confirm it. In many cases we succeeded,” he said.

In order to be impartial, the city handed the investigation over to the sheriff’s office in March.

This happened after the four were accused of inappropriate behavior.

“There are rogue cops or villains of some sort everywhere. There are those in every profession. This is a little different, it’s a culture,” the sheriff said.

City Manager Joe Forte told News 6 on Thursday that he had conducted the investigation, was reading it and hoped to have an answer soon.

“I intend to take some swift and decisive action depending on what this summary tells me,” he said.

During the investigation, the sheriff’s office also handled law enforcement in the city. Now officers have resigned and former Holly Hill Police Chief Mark Barker is serving as interim chief.

Forte said many current officers and city employees are committed to rebuilding the department.

“I hope that when we hire a new police chief, he will be an agent of change, and that that agent of change will come here, hire a captain who is an appropriately respectful captain, and that he will change the culture in this department,” he said.

After the 45-day period, the results of this investigation will be made publicly available.

The sheriff said the FDLE is still investigating to determine if any criminal activity occurred.

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