The mayor and city council of Barrackville, West Virginia, relieved the town's entire police department of duty just days after the police chief resigned, and after the remaining sergeant accused town officials of entering the department's evidence room without authorization. The small Marion County town of roughly 1,200 people now has no local law enforcement at all.
The department itself broke the news in a Facebook post on Tuesday:
"Effective immediately, the entire Barrackville Police Department has been relieved of duty by the Mayor and City Council. We are sincerely grateful for the support, trust, and encouragement shown to us by the Barrackville community throughout our service. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve and protect this town."
No official explanation followed. Mayor Tom Straight and the town council have not publicly stated why they dismissed the force. Fox News Digital reported reaching out to the mayor, council members, the police department, the Marion County Sheriff's Office, and the West Virginia Municipal League. No responses were noted.
What has emerged instead is a trail of allegations from the officers themselves, a resigned chief who says the council tried to seize operational control of the department, and a sergeant who claims officials broke into the evidence room and then fired him when he raised the alarm.
Barrackville appointed Zachary Freeburn as its full-time police chief in December 2025. The department's own announcement at the time struck an optimistic note, saying it looked forward to "continuing to rebuild and strengthen our department to better serve our community."
Freeburn brought credentials. He graduated from the West Virginia State Police Academy, holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, and carried an advanced Drug Recognition Expert certification. The town appeared to welcome him.
That welcome did not last long. In a letter shared with local outlet WBOY, Freeburn wrote that shortly after the newly elected town council took office, he was called into a closed-door meeting and told a council member would directly supervise the police department and implement operational changes. Newsmax reported that Freeburn objected because he believed West Virginia law places those responsibilities with the police chief, not elected council members.
The letter attributed a blunt statement to the unnamed council member: "If I give you a directive you follow it... I am in charge and what I say goes."
Freeburn described the situation as one that would create a hostile work environment. He wrote that one of the biggest complaints he heard from Barrackville residents was a lack of transparency at town hall. Rather than continue under conditions he considered unlawful, he resigned "effective immediately", less than seven months into the job. He said he hoped residents would finally receive "the transparency that they have been asking for."
The pattern is familiar. Across the country, government leaders at every level have found themselves squeezed between political pressure and the responsibilities of their offices. What makes Barrackville unusual is the scale of the fallout relative to the size of the town.
After Freeburn left, the department named Sgt. Hunt, whose first name was not publicly identified, as officer in charge. A department statement said Hunt would serve in that role "to ensure the continued operation of the department." At that point, the entire Barrackville Police Department consisted of two sworn officers: Hunt and one unnamed colleague.
What happened next turned a resignation dispute into something more serious.
Hunt told Fox News Digital that when he arrived at the department on Tuesday morning, he discovered the police evidence room had been entered. He alleged that town officials had previously discussed conducting an inventory of the department without officers present. During a subsequent meeting with Mayor Straight and council members, Hunt accused officials of entering the evidence room. He claimed Councilmember Alex Neville acknowledged taking a set of police keys.
Hunt also stated he informed town officials he intended to seek whistleblower protections. Shortly after making these accusations, Hunt and the other remaining officer were relieved of duty.
Fox News Digital has not independently verified Hunt's allegations. The evidence room claim remains a single-source account. No official response from Neville, Straight, or any other council member has been reported. The sequence, accusation, then immediate dismissal, is what Hunt described, and it raises obvious questions about motive and timing that the town's leadership has so far declined to address.
The New York Post reported that the department's police clerk also resigned, leaving the town with zero police staff of any kind. One Barrackville resident, Isabella Pham, told the Post: "I just think that the town right now is in a little bit of a mess. We've gone through a lot of different people, and I'm just hoping that at the end of this, we can get a little bit of stability, transparency and security."
The timing of the town council's next moves deserves scrutiny. Freeburn's letter was written before the department was dismissed. He intended it to be read at the July 7 town council meeting, where residents planned to demand answers.
That meeting never happened. The Barrackville Town Council posted on Facebook that it was canceled "because of 'a lack of sufficient information regarding items listed under unfinished business.'"
Read that again. The council fired its entire police department, faced allegations of entering a secured evidence room, and then canceled the one public forum where residents could have asked questions, citing a lack of information on unfinished business. The council itself was the source of the unfinished business.
A community petition launched on MoveOn.org urged the council to reinstate Freeburn. The petition stated that the chief had been "forced to resign due to what many residents believe was unnecessary overreach by the newly elected Town Council." It called on town leaders to "reconsider circumstances surrounding the resignation, restore public confidence through transparency, and reinstate Freeburn as police chief." Organizers had urged residents to attend the July 7 meeting, the one the council canceled.
When questions about government overreach and accountability arise at the federal level, at least congressional hearings and inspector general reports provide some recourse. In a town of 1,200 people, the only check on local government may be a monthly council meeting. When that meeting gets canceled, the community has almost nowhere to turn.
Marion County Sheriff Roger Cunningham previously told WBOY that the sheriff's office will continue responding to calls in Barrackville, as it routinely does throughout the county. Barrackville sits about 25 miles southwest of Morgantown, in north-central West Virginia.
That arrangement may keep the lights on, but it is not the same as having local officers who know the streets, the residents, and the problems. A county sheriff's office covering an entire county cannot replicate the presence of a dedicated municipal department, even one as small as two officers.
Social media reaction captured in the Fox News report reflected a mix of frustration and dark humor. One commenter wrote: "Time to do some deep background on the city council. The truth is not being told." Another asked: "Who is gonna look over the 5 residents in Barrackville now?"
The joke lands because the underlying facts are so stark. A town hired a qualified chief. He lasted seven months before, by his own account, a council member told him to take orders or get out. He resigned. The remaining officers raised an alarm about the evidence room. They were dismissed the same day. The council canceled the public meeting. And nobody in a position of authority in Barrackville has offered a word of public explanation.
The open questions in this case are substantial. Which specific West Virginia law does Freeburn believe the council violated? No statute number has been cited. Which council member allegedly demanded operational control in the closed-door meeting? Freeburn's letter does not name that individual. What was in the evidence room, and was anything removed or disturbed? Hunt's allegation stands unverified.
Fox News Digital contacted the West Virginia Municipal League seeking clarification on the authority of municipal officials over police department operations under state law. No response was reported. That legal question matters. If West Virginia law vests operational authority in the police chief, then a council member asserting direct supervisory control is not just bad management, it may be unlawful interference.
The broader pattern, political power dynamics shaping institutional outcomes, plays out in courtrooms and statehouses across the country. In Barrackville, it played out in a police station with two officers and an evidence room that somebody apparently entered when no officer was around to watch.
The petition's language about Freeburn is worth noting: "Our Police Chief quickly earned the trust, respect, and appreciation of our community through his professionalism, leadership, integrity, and commitment to keeping Barrackville safe. Although his time serving our town was brief, his impact was undeniable."
That is not the language of a community that wanted its chief gone. It is the language of people who feel something was taken from them and want to know why.
Freeburn wrote his letter so it could be read at a public meeting. The council made sure that meeting never took place. Hunt says he tried to report what he found in the evidence room. He was fired the same day. Both men, in different ways, tried to put information in front of the public. Both were removed from their positions.
The residents of Barrackville deserve answers. They deserve to know why their police chief was pushed out, why their evidence room was allegedly accessed without authorization, and why the council's response to every question has been silence, or cancellation.
A town that fires every officer it has and then refuses to explain why isn't protecting its residents. It's protecting itself.