Dwayne Hobbs Facts: Forest Park Police Chief Fired Amid Racial Profiling Accusations

The long-time police chief in Forest Park, Georgie, was fired Monday night after accusations of racial profiling emerged. Dwayne Hobbs, who was part of the department for more than four decades, denied the accusations.

The Forest Park City Council voted 3-2 to remove Hobbs from his position, according to reports. However, it was unclear if the accusations were the reason Councilmember Dabouze Antoine and two others voted to remove Hobbs.

“Well, the people spoke,” Antoine reportedly said. “The people wanted change. I’m a voice for the people, and the city decided to go a different direction.”

While Antoine, Councilwomen Latresa Akins-Wells and Kimberly James voted to fire Hobbs, Council members Sandra Bagley and Allan Mears voted against his removal.

Following the vote, James said: “It was never our intention to go this route,” adding the council had “come to an agreement to work out some things so [Hobbs] could have some dignity in retirement.”

In an interview with ABC-affiliated Channel 2 last week, Hobbs said two city councilors recently accused his department of racial profiling during a public meeting in August.

“I had no dream it could end like this,” Hobbs told the news station.

Hobbs said last week the Forest Park police department investigated, on average, four or five complaints of racial profiling per year but the department never had an issue with profiling.

"We randomly look at the videos. We make random calls to people who make police calls for service," Hobbs said. "If we've investigated and found the officer was doing things for racially motivated reasons, there'd be swift justice."

Police Capt. Jason Armstrong was named interim police chief following Hobbs' firing.

Hobbs, who was chief of police for 22 years, began his career as an officer while still in school. He attended Clayton State University from 1973 to 1975. He earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice. In 1996, he returned to college and obtained a degree in Public Administration.

Nearly 40 percent of the residents in the city of Forest Park are African-American and 30 percent are Hispanic, according to City-Data.

Forest Park Police Department arrest records show a majority of arrests made for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana since 2015 were African-Americans, the Clayton News reported. According to a preliminary analysis, 579 of the 698 arrests since 2015 involved black suspects.

“Wow. I’m glad you got the evidence because it basically proves what I’ve been saying all along, that blacks are being profiled," Akins-Wells said last week after the report surfaced, adding: “That’s not a basis for any decision, but it’s happening and people need to know it is happening. Wow, wow, wow. That’s crazy.”