Helena-West Helena, AR (abc24.com) - Five Helena-West Helena police officers were in federal custody Tuesday, October 11, 2011, arrested along with 65 other Mid-Southerners as part of a federal drug and corruption investigation named "Operation Delta Blues."
"I'm ecstatic," Helena-West Helena Police Chief Uless Wallace tells abc24.com. "I honestly think if they're corrupt, they don't need to be here."
Chief Wallace said he heard the rumors about dirty cops on his force when he became chief in September. He had just started an internal investigation when he received a phone call at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday. It was an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"I was asleep," says Wallace, "very much so."
Wallace says he got up and met with the agents, and that was the first time he heard that several of his officers faced federal indictments for corruption.
Chief Wallace says he's not done cleaning house and expects more developments in the weeks ahead.
The investigation not only targeted police officers, but drug dealers as well, who are charged with selling marijuana, crack, and cocaine in Arkansas, Mississippi and Memphis.
Those arrested are scheduled to face a federal judge on Thursday, October 13th in Little Rock.
