*An open chapter in a story that has crossed two mayoral administrations—and still has no ending.*

There is a peculiar thing that happens when government stops answering questions. At first, you assume somebody missed an email. Then you send another. You write a letter. You preserve the records. You contact another office. You try Internal Affairs. You wait. Eventually, the silence itself becomes part of the story. That is where I find myself with the City of Vicksburg today, and it is why the letter accompanying this post is no longer private correspondence. It is public-facing by design.

For more than two years, I have tried to get serious allegations and concerns involving the Vicksburg Police Department examined through the institutions that are supposed to handle them. My account includes allegations of assault, sexual assault, Taser use, harassment and conduct that I describe as torture. I have also raised separate concerns about public records, access to Internal Affairs and what I believe are violations of my First Amendment rights. Those are extraordinary claims, which is precisely why I have spent so much time trying to get officials to examine the underlying evidence and records instead of asking strangers on the internet simply to believe me.

This story began under former Mayor George Flaggs Jr., but elections eventually brought Vicksburg a new administration. When Willis Thompson ran for mayor, some of what he said caught my attention. During his 2025 campaign, Thompson spoke openly about listening to residents and transparent government. He said, **“Real leadership starts with listening.”** A few weeks later, discussing transparency, he made an even more memorable promise: **“If it’s good news, we’re going to tell you. If it’s bad news, we’re going to tell you, and we’re going to work through it.”** He also said he wanted to “fix what’s broken.” Those were encouraging words for someone who had already spent considerable time trying to get City Hall to listen.

That is what makes the present situation so difficult to reconcile with the promise. I have continued writing. I have continued documenting. I have brought my concerns to the current administration and tried to get meaningful acknowledgment of what I have submitted. Yet from where I sit, the fundamental experience has remained remarkably familiar: unanswered questions, institutional barriers and silence. I am not accusing Mayor Thompson of corruption, nor am I suggesting that he personally caused everything that happened before he became mayor. An incoming mayor inherits problems he did not create. But eventually an inherited problem lands on the desk of the person who now holds the office, and what happens next becomes part of that administration’s record.

There is another reason I no longer think this should remain a private dispute between one citizen and City Hall. I have become aware of other citizens describing troubling encounters of their own with Vicksburg law enforcement. I have also seen Internal Affairs-related material showing that other complainants have received communication from the Department. That raises an obvious question for me: if the complaint system is capable of answering citizens, why have my own repeated efforts produced such a different experience? I don’t think Reddit should accept my interpretation automatically. I think people should be able to look at the material and reach their own conclusions.

That is the purpose of publishing the letter attached to this post. It lays out what I have been trying to communicate to Mayor Thompson and places his own public promises beside my documented experience attempting to reach his administration. If City Hall believes my account is wrong, it can say so. If records contradict me, those records can speak. If an investigation occurred, the City can explain what it is legally permitted to explain. If my complaints were referred somewhere else, someone can tell me where they went. Disagreement would at least be an answer. Silence leaves everyone guessing.

There is a temptation in stories about government accountability to make everything into heroes and villains. Reality is usually messier than that. I don’t know what Mayor Thompson will ultimately do with what I have sent him. I do know what he told Vicksburg when he wanted the job: leadership begins with listening, government should be transparent even when the news is bad, and broken things should be fixed. Those are worthwhile standards regardless of who occupies the mayor’s office.

So this isn’t another private warning to City Hall. **It is the public record of my attempt to be heard.** The pages attached to this post contain the letter itself. Read it. Question it. Compare it against the documents as they are released. Don’t take my conclusions as gospel, and don’t take the government’s silence as proof that nothing happened either.

The records deserve their day in the light.  
And after more than two years of knocking on doors, I think the people of Vicksburg deserve to see what has been waiting on the other side.

***— Kristofer Kelley***  
***The Vigilante Justice Project***

Vicksburg Was Promised Transparency. Now I am Making the Silence Public.