[7/27/04]Officer Joseph Bell, a 4-year veteran of the Vicksburg Police Department, was called in from patrol at 2 p.m. Monday, arrested at police headquarters and charged with four counts of passing bad checks on a closed account and one count of passing bad checks on an account with insufficient funds.

Police Chief Tommy Moffett held a press conference, saying he believes the felonies were more serious because Bell used his status as a police officer in cashing checks.

Bell, 31, 216 Alford Drive, was the target of a month-long investigation after one person who cashed a check complained to police, Moffett said. Bell was immediately released from the Warren County Jail after posting a $10,000 bond.

Moffett said Bell was officially relieved of duty Monday and that the paperwork to fire him would be before the Mayor and Board of Aldermen today.

“Obviously, my recommendation is that he be terminated,” Moffett said.

Evidence showed Bell had opened an account with $250 and written more than $2,000 in checks without making additional deposits. Moffett said Bell often wrote the checks while in uniform and, even when in plain clothes, made sure a merchant knew he was a police officer.

“In one particular case, there was more credibility given to (Bell) because he was a police officer,” he said. Another person was reluctant to complain. “One individual didn’t want to report the crime. He said, I don’t want any problem with the police,'” Moffett said.

Moffett was hired nearly three years ago, after retiring as chief in Biloxi and has said adding professionalism to police operations is his goal here.

Officers should not be cut any slack if laws are broken, Moffett said Monday.

“If you’re a thug wearing a badge, then that thug needs to be put in jail,” he said.

Moffett said he believed other officers on the 74-member police department would respond well to the arrest of one of their own.

“They want a professional department,” Moffett said. “I can only believe this would be a positive.”