Almost 60 cases dismissed due to corruption in a northern Alabama police department, grand jury finds

Nearly 60 felony cases will be dropped in a small Alabama town because they were compromised by what a grand jury called a "rampant culture of corruption" in the local police department, according to a statement on Wednesday.

The grand jury determined that 58 felony criminal cases had been tainted by corruption in the Hanceville Police Department in northern Alabama, after four officers and the police chief were indicted on a variety of charges related to mishandling or removing evidence from the department's evidence room.

The indictment included a recommendation that the department be "immediately abolished."