COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - Columbus Police Chief Oscar Lewis is retiring at the end of the year.
City spokesman Joe Dillion says Lewis turned in his retirement papers to Mayor Robert Smith Monday afternoon.
The retirement will take effect at the end of the year.
Dillion says the mayor will move to have Assistant Police Chief Fred Shelton to take over the department on an interim basis.
Lewis was hired as chief in January 2016 after serving as police chief in Waynesboro.
He has been under fire in recent months, especially after a consultant's review of the police department recommended that the city get rid of Lewis.
City leaders decided against that recommendation.
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