Rayville voters elect new chief of police

Rayville voters elected a new police chief over the weekend.

Markus Turner defeated incumbent police chief Willie Robinson with 59 percent of the vote.

Turner received 424 votes to Robinson’s 296.

Turnout for the election was 30.5 percent.

Turner, 48, is a 1992 graduate of Rayville High School who began his law enforcement career with the Rayville Police Department in 2004 and graduated from North Delta Training Academy to become a certified police officer.

He went to work for the Winnsboro Police Department in 2005, where he took on investigative duties. He returned to Rayville four years later, becoming an investigator and sergeant with the Rayville Police Department and later a patrol deputy and lieutenant with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office.  

He will take office as Rayville’s new chief of police on July 1.

Robinson has served the Town of Rayville as chief of police for 24 years.

He served with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office for 18 years before his election.