Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. released a statement Tuesday, July 20 congratulating the Mayor and city leaders on the selection of Lloyd Franklin Sr. as the newly appointed Interim Chief of Police for the City of Pine Bluff. Woods also joined Deltaplex and gave his remarks about their choice.

In Woods’s statement, he said that the selection of a police chief for any city is the Mayor’s single most important and consequential appointment, as public safety is most vital. The right leader can make all the difference -not just in crisis situations, but in the daily trial of working closely with police officers to keep citizens safe. After acknowledging that Mayor Shirley Washington preferred a Chief from outside of Pine Bluff Woods responded,