RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – A town hall meeting was held in Brandon on Saturday, which focused on alleged police brutality within the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office.

The Rankin County branch of the NAACP held the meeting to discuss allegations of misconduct, assault and abuse by Rankin County deputies.

“You have killer officers. You have racist officers amongst this department, and this has not just begun. I’m here to let y’all know it is not only going on around our state, it’s happening all around the country. There is an attack on Black life,” said Marquell Bridges with Building Bridges for Community Unity and Progress.

Bridges said since 2021, five people have died in Rankin County’s jail, and three have died in police custody. Those figures have not been confirmed by WJTV 12 News.

A relative of Emmett Till also gave her thoughts on law enforcement.

Priscilla Sterling, a Till relative, said, “They have racist organizations in the state of Mississippi, over 45 racist organizations. And I did is doing my research in the master’s program at Belhaven University, and what I found out, you have 45 races organizations with over 1,000 members per organization here in Mississippi. Then guess who your law enforcement officers are? Guess who they are?”

Sate authorities are still investigating the allegations of wrongdoing. Organizers said the upcoming local elections are very important, and they encouraged everyone to go out and vote.

“We can march throughout the state of Mississippi, triumph hate. We need to create a day where we get people from all around the United States to come to Mississippi and triumph hate. Because right now we have white men and women sitting around plotting on all Black people,” said Sterling.