It’s curious. The selection of former Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol administrative officer Walter Armstrong last summer to be the new chief of the Vicksburg Police Department was made after a public discussion shown on the city’s government access channel. Same for the subsequent hiring of two deputy chiefs, John Dolan, who had formerly been a city and county law enforcement leader, and Jeffrey Scott, hired from the Jackson Police Department. When Scott resigned, Chief Armstrong said he eventually would be replaced.

Last Monday, in closed session, South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman said — when asked later in the week — he was passed an action form identifying Mitchell Dent as Scott’s replacement.

Dent, who was chief of the department before 2001, has a good record as a capable officer. Armstrong said he was the most qualified of the applicants for the position. No doubt he was.

So why was this done with an aura of secrecy? Armstrong said he thinks it was because Dent was out of town, but that doesn’t explain why there was no announcement of the hiring for several days — especially given the fanfare surrounding hiring of others into top city responsibilities.

Yes, there were problems and criticisms when Dent was chief. There were problems and criticisms for police leaders before him and problems and criticisms of police leaders since. It comes with the territory.

The approach Mayor Paul Winfield and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield took in making this appointment arouses suspicion, which may be completely ill-founded. City officials have every right to use secrecy when it’s in the public’s interest for them to do so, but they don’t do themselves or the city any favors by appearing to treat the hiring of a new deputy chief as just another routine personnel matter.