Lauderdale County sheriff's deputies will increase patrols in the area where a noose was founding hanging outside a north Alabama church.

Lt. Joe Hamilton said Friday that the department is also asking the public for help finding who left the noose outside St. John Primitive Baptist Church, near the city of Florence.

There was no other damage to the church, which is one of the county's oldest African-American congregations, Hamilton said. It sits at the end of a dead-end road off Waterloo Road, he said, adding, "If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't know it was there."

Hamilton said the noose was found after Wednesday night services by a deacon, who called the sheriff's office. A uniformed deputy, investigator and Hamilton went to the scene.

"We will pay special attention" to the church, Hamilton said. "And we are trying to find out who did it."

The church could not immediately be reached for comment.