Fired England Police Chief to ask for job back

Sunday, former England Police Chief Herman Hutton is speaking out and rallying for support before he goes to the England City Council meeting Tuesday night to appeal what he calls his wrongful termination.

Hutton told FOX16 why he thinks the mayor and city council should give him his job back.

"I'd spend anywhere from 60 to 70 to 80 hours a week being the police chief up there. I took an oath to serve those citizens," says Hutton. "They're sticking behind the reasoning that I'm an at will employee. And that's a problem. I didn't spend thirty years, plus, building a reputation requiring the knowledge necessary to be a chief of police to be let go at will."

The mayor will not talk about why he fired Hutton and will only say it is a personnel issue, but Hutton says it's religious discrimination.

"Back in January, the mayor had called me into his office, had a list of concerns that he had about my job performance, and at the top of that list was that he said he had received complaints from members of the community that I was spending too much time preaching," says Hutton.

Hutton claims the mayor accused him of working on his sermons during work hours. Hutton says that simply was not true.

Hutton says crime is down and he just wants his job back.

"I was ready to spend the rest of my career there and probably end up that's where I was gonna die, you know, it's what we wanted to do," says Hutton.

Monday night, Hutton's supporters will hold a prayer vigil at seven at Memorial Park in England. The city council meeting is Tuesday night at seven, but at six, Hutton's supporters are having a rally for him, also at Memorial Park.