Bay St Louis police chief Mike Denardo used his service weapon Thursday September 8th, only it wasn’t to protect and serve, it was to take his own life. Denardo, who has been police chief of bay ST Louis Mississippi since 2010, was in the process of being escorted off of city property by two sheriff deputies after Bay ST Louis Mayor Les Fillingame terminated his employment. Denardo, clearly distraught, drew his service weapon and shot himself in the chest. While the official reason for the termination of Denardo is unclear, many speculate it relates to the missing forfeiture funds that went missing in August of last year. The forfeiture funds, which are seized during joint federal-local operations and then put into an account dedicated for police-related expenses, were neither shown on the cities revenue-and-expense…show more content… Within the state governments, the criminal justice system has bodies that operate on a local or jurisdictional level. Federal, state, and local officials are all expected to depend on resources from one another and cooperate in the eyes of the greater good, but in the case of Bay St Louis, alleged corruption can taint the sanctity of social order. The Criminal Justice System as an institution for social control, has checks and balances that ensure power is distributed equally and that no governing head has too much power. The importance of this mechanism shows itself in this article. The missing funds created a scandal that not only could incriminate the mayor of a city, but also led to the death of a long standing police chief, whom was doing what was expected of him. The city now has a suspected corrupt politician, and a dead police chief, slain by the pressure of not only operating a police command but also the betrayal of a politician who was entrusted with the power of preserving the integrity of the
