Interim Rocky Mount police chief resigns; officers disciplined for online videos

Interim Rocky Mount Police Chief George Robinson resigned on Thursday within hours of the police department announcing an investigation into social media videos posted by five officers.

Officials said the five officers have been disciplined for violating Rocky Mount's social media policy, which forbids "engaging in vulgar language, obscenities, defamatory or abusive language, and language that is deemed offensive."

The officers made TikTok videos while in uniform and in patrol vehicles that included profanity, as well as others in which they appeared to be at a party singing songs with profanity.

"The behavior displayed by these employees is unacceptable, exhibited poor judgment and will not be tolerated by anyone employed with the Rocky Mount Police Department," department officials said in a statement. "We will continue to educate our staff on social media training in an effort to prevent this from occurring in the future."

Robinson had worked for the police department for 30 years, including as chief from March 2019 until last December, when he retired. He came out of retirement in mid-January to serve as interim chief because the search for a successor was taking longer than expected.

City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney appointed Charles Williams as the next interim chief. He also served as interim chief after Robinson's retirement, only to return to his position as captain when Robinson was tapped as interim chief in January.

Williams, who has worked for the police department for 26 years, declined to comment Friday on the officers' discipline.

“I am thankful for Chief Robinson’s service to our organization,” Small-Toney said in a statement. “I’m confident in Charles Williams’ abilities to guide the department until the end of our search for the city of Rocky Mount’s next police chief.”