Former Newton Grove Police Officers Claim Out-of-Towners Were Targeted For Speeding

Sampson County District Attorney Dewey Hudson says he has asked theState Bureau of Investigationto investigate accusations that town leaders asked local police to target out-of-towners for speeding.

"If one person is speeding through town and he lives there, then you would just turn your back and let him speed through town," Hudson says. "Whereas if someone from Raleigh is coming from Newton Grove and he's speeding, he gets a citation. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that is not right."

Hudson says several former police officers made the accusations on the front page of a local newspaper.

"When it became public, then obviously I felt like it was something that we had to investigate and determine whether or not the allegations were true," Hudson says.

Elaine Jackson, Newton Grove police commissioner, calls the accusations lies.

"It's time that it came to closure," Jackson says. "If the SBI needs to come down here, the FBI, whatever, tell them to come on," Jackson says.

The SBI has already started its investigation. The results could be known by next month.

Police officers across the state are currently monitoring the town while local officials attempt to hire a new police force.