Model policies and procedures adopted in many places around the country provide a new standard of professionalism for law enforcement organizations. held the first town hall, in which 200 people gathered, Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal black hole, Pastor, sister say rogue Alabama police force sought revenge, This Alabama county fastens ankle monitors on hundreds who arent convicted of crimes, Life on an ankle monitor in Alabama: $10 a day and inevitable imperfections, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. See also: Savelle among those sued by preacher who claimed Brookside revenge. Seven Brookside police officers have resigned since details of the towns aggressive policing strategy gained national attention in January. Brookside State: Alabama Zip Code: 35036-2000 County: Jefferson County Phone #: 205-674-9275 Fax #: 205-674-9547. Total town income more than doubled from 2018 to 2020 from $582,000 to more than $1.2 million as fines and forfeitures rose 640%. They were shining these flashlights in my car and it was daylight. I was just looking at him like, so this is what this stop is about?. He agreed to represent his niece in her traffic case. In fact, they said in November they didnt know how that money is spent. In another case, Brookside police last year confiscated a 2014 Honda Civic owned by a man named Sean Wattson, even though Wattson was not driving and was not in the car, according to a lawsuit he filed against the town. Mike Jones, former police chief in the troubled Alabama town of Brookside, was arrested today on felony charges of impersonating a peace officer during a traffic stop in south Alabama.. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Simon led an in-depth and months long investigation into whether officers in the Brookside Police Department participated in racial profiling. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the police department that serves the area, where Mike Hale is the sheriff. Givan is still pushing for change in Brookside and says those responsible should be held accountable. The city is facing at least five federal lawsuits related to its policing. Many of the complaints regarding how police enforced traffic stops centered around officers pulling people over outside their jurisdiction and even police jurisdiction signs posted beyond city limits. Over 200 people packed into the new Jefferson County Sheriffs Office Training Facility building to voice their complaints about aggressive policing by the Brookside Police Dept. He said he also represented a woman who was stopped in 2019 for driving in the left lane of I-22, which was not technically a crime, and accused police of using a "false left-lane violation" to ensnare motorists. In 2020 they came to $610,000. Perform a free Brookside, AL public property records search, including property appraisals, unclaimed property, ownership searches, lookups, tax records, titles, deeds, and liens. But not in the courtroom. I just know that the police departments not gonna be able to come back from this, she said. Advocates for justice reform, cops in other jurisdictions, even Jefferson Countys top law enforcement officials, have begun to question the towns tactics, and its need for an expanding force. The deputy described a Brookside badge with a chief indicator at the bottom. Audits by Philip Morgan & Co., covering at least five consecutive years, pointed out as a shortcoming that the town did not have a budget or a policy of adopting one annually. Still, police seized his car, and refused to return it, though they didnt begin official forfeiture proceedings. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. McDonald, the towns first dispatcher, said he too found Bryans statement lacking. "There is no coming back from this. The complaint seeks to establish four separate sub classes: Lawyers for the plaintiffs want, among other things, all fines and convictions voided and seized property returned. All rights reserved (About Us). By last summer, he said in a deposition, Brookside had hired eight additional full-time officers and several part-timers. Because the Town is launching the independent inquiry, the February 3 and 10 monthly court sessions are postponed until a date to be determined. Second, the town would likely benefit from a relationship with a research organization to provide annual information on the existence of any red flags detected in statistical trends and patterns. There are only 1,253 people in Brookside, and one store, the Dollar General. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The deputy has since also issued a speeding ticket to go along with the impersonation charge.. Instead, the arresting officer was listed as Agent JS, while the assisting officer was Agent AR.. 2023 County Office. The town also expanded its towing operations, going from 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020. The next day she spoke to the husband of the woman who complained to Hoover police. Smart, targeted strategies administered in an even-handed fashion will maximize results and public support for Brookside. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. I could take over the whole county with numbers like that, he joked. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests in 2020 for every household. Written with the support of Columbia Universitys Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights. Will Ainsworth want to know how such a department could have existed. WVTM 13 Digital. Type: You may not use this site for the purposes of furnishing consumer reports about search subjects or for any use prohibited by the FCRA. Walker told the judge he will fight the charge. And while sitting in court I heard that half the court was also stopped for the same thing.. The town's median household income is less than $40,000, according to demographic data. Brookside Police Department. The primary function of the Police Department is deterring crime, stopping crimes in progress, investigating crimes, and serving as first responders for emergencies and situations that threaten public safety. An audit by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts last week issued a report citing Brookside for myriad errors, including poor financial controls, missing guns and guns with no explanation. Hoover police arrested Savelle for public intoxication and two counts of harassment that night, saying he was intoxicated to the point of being a danger to himself and to others. The woman told police she did wish to press charges. I know that.. Police charged Harris with flickering her lights or nuisance of casting lights from motor vehicle on real property at night, which she argues did not happen and eventually was dropped. Police Trap, she posted in June of 2019. Brookside, Alabama, a former mining community of about 1,250 with a median household income less than $40,000, has no traffic lights and only a handful of two-lane roads, yet it raked in so much revenue from traffic fines and forfeitures in 2020, it amounted to almost half of its $1.2 million municipal budget. The The Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts released an audit into Brookside in the Spring of 2022. Roger McCondichie, the late mayor of Brookside, at the time called Jones company woes personal business and defended the hiring by saying Jones was certified and had all the credentials. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. she said. Its not about making a dollar, Jones said. The report was released on September 29, 2022. (Photographerlondon / Dreamstime.com) Brookside, Alabama, has a population of less than 1,500 people. She called for the second town hall meeting this week.. Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway held the first town hall, in which 200 people gathered and 31 told stories of harassment and abuse. She thought the complaint was long forgotten or closed. A Brookside officer ticketed Brumlow under Alabama code section 32-5-77, which her lawyers contend does not contain a crime. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. He lent his car to a friend, who was pulled over and arrested for drug possession. Thats why I hesitated to fight it. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. We get calls about Brookside quite regularly because they really go outside their jurisdiction to stop people, Pettway said. Police stacked fines on them, often towed their cars and generated revenue that went right back into the police department. The towns administrative expenditures rose 40% and overall spending jumped 112%, from $553,000 in 2018 to $1.2 million in 2020. It was something that I should not have been stopped for, Brumlow said in sworn testimony. At least eight officers, including Jones, have resigned or been let go since. When he declared bankruptcy in 2019, Jones owed $300,000 in tax liens and $2.2 million in total claims. "Ferguson made us realize it wasn't just Ferguson," said Priya Sarathy Jones, the national campaign director at the Fines and Fees Justice Center,which advocates for fees to be eliminated in the justice system and fines to be equitably enforced. In the meantime, well continue to make good on our promises to reform policing in Brookside, said Mayor Bryan on Wednesday. Privacy Policy And the police chief has called for more. When he got to court Dec. 2, he saw scores of people just like him lining up to stand before Judge Jim Wooten, complaining of penny-ante crimes and harassment by officers. Not for speeding, or running a stop sign, or any violation. Citizen and officer safety, and protection of constitutional rights, should be among the prime goals of such training. Find Brookside residential property records including property owners, sales & transfer history, deeds & titles, property taxes, valuations, land, zoning records & more. Bill Dawson, a lawyer who has represented several clients in Brookside, said defendants have faced possession charges for a joint, with paraphernalia charges tacked on for the paper it was rolled in. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Third party advertisements support hosting, listing verification, updates, and site maintenance. Most of the time people get stopped, theyre going to get a ticket. Do you understand what you are charged with? the judge asked on that first Thursday in December. If you had more officers and more productivity youd have more, Jones said. Eventually she was given an inhaler and treated by paramedics. Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway want to hear more, and will hold a town hall meeting today. The town now faces 13 lawsuits. However, Jones resigned or was let go from Brooksides police department on Jan. 25, soon after reports of the small towns aggressive policing drew the attention of state lawmakers and local officials. He said response times were long because Brookside often had to rely on the Jefferson County Sheriffs department for service. Officers in Brookside have been accused in lawsuits of manufacturing reasons for traffic stops, overcharging and "making up laws," AL.com reported. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He was very ugly from the start.. Its very uncertain as a citizen of Brookside now.. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency. Months of research and dozens of interviews by AL.com found that Brooksides finances are rocket-fueled by tickets and aggressive policing. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham has demanded the resignations of Bryan, Brookside City Attorney Mark Parnell and Municipal Judge Jim Wooten. Detective Johnson had called and asked that I come to the Brookside Police Department to talk to them. What happens is when it gets to be so egregious, when you go a little bit too far and you take it to an extreme as the city of Brookside did, it just wasnt about selective enforcement, it becomes routine, Givan said. The problem for those alleging misconduct is that officers may be immune from lawsuits if their actions are found to be a part of their official duties, Dawson said. A 2019 report in Governing magazine found that fines and forfeitures account for more than 10 percent of general fund revenues for nearly 600 jurisdictions throughout the country, and in jurisdictions where fines accounted for more than 20 percent, the local median household income was less than $40,000. The Brookside Police Department is located on Municipal Drive, and the Chief of Police is Jason Springfield. He saw so many people trying to park in the grassy field outside the municipal building that police had to direct traffic. More than half the Brookside officers resigned or were fired this year as more and more people came forward to tell their stories about mistreatment in Brookside. ABC 33/40s Cynthia Gould reported at the time. Mayor Mike Bryan late Wednesday said there was no conspiracy, The Town has just been made aware of this amended lawsuit, Bryan told AL.com. Perez ultimately decided to pay the $1,100 fine on top of hundreds hed already spent to get his towed car back and get the heck out of Brookside. The accounts told to AL.com detail harassment and intimidation. It did not feature a breakout of the police department. Ainsworth, also a Republican, told AL.com that his office would look at legislative options to determine how to prevent towns from taking advantage of drivers passing through on highways, a problem lawmakers acknowledged is happening across the state. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. Sandra Jo Harris, a 52-year-old grandmother, claims in a lawsuit she pulled off I-22 at Cherry Avenue on Jan. 8, 2020, as she often did when she went to visit her daughter. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. BROOKSIDE, Ala. After a tumultuous few weeks for the city of Brookside, including the resignation of police Chief Mike Jones, more allegations were brought to light against the city's police department on Thursday. The complaint alleges numerous constitutional violations, and we believe the citizens need to be protected from illegal actions by the Town of Brookside.. It showed that total arrests custodial, misdemeanor and felony rose 1,109% from 2018 to 2020. Please keep your posts factual and post links to reliable sources. He had a net worth of $55,000 and a monthly income of $2,244, according to federal records. Brookside is a poor town, 70% white, 21% Black, with a small but growing Hispanic population and a median income well below the state average. Allan Armstrong, one of a group of lawyers who filed the complaint, said Brookside violated basic American rights. In January of 2014 Savelle was arrested in Shelby County a county south of Birmingham that includes Helena on charges of public intoxication, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, court records show. Former Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones was arrested May 2, 2022 in Covington County, Ala., charged with impersonating a police officer. The growth has come with trouble to match. Brookside now faces at least five lawsuits. First, it should avoid racial profiling and selective enforcement. Jones could not be reached for comment Friday. The conclusion reads: We conclude our report by recommending that new Brookside Police Department leadership adopt specific policies aimed at targeting its law enforcement efforts in more strategic ways. "It's the wild, Wild West, and they created their own wild, Wild West.". According to AL.com's investigation, Jones, who was hired in 2018, built a police department of 10 or more full-time and part-time officers to patrol Brookside's 6 miles of roads and 1 mile jurisdiction along Interstate 22, a corridor between Birmingham and Memphis, Tennessee. August 18, 2015 Aerial Videography of Brookside, Alabama Trails Five Mile Creek on the Alabama Birding Trail September 24, 2014 Brookside walkng trail has been added to the Appalchian Highlands Birding Trail web site! All they do is take peoples rights. Asked why that was the case, Bryan responded there had been an error, that the heading for the Municipal Court Fund was actually the police department budget. Ive seen it, DA Carr said. Some of the charges Savelle has faced predate his hiring at Brookside. She set out to challenge it. But lawyers and law enforcement officers across central Alabama have raised questions about things in Brookside they say they have never otherwise come across. Periodic review of bodycam video can be used to monitor and investigate possible profiling or other alleged misconduct. She pulled to the side of the road as the SUV pulled behind her, and a wrecker simultaneously parked nearby. It has had a continued practice of stopping and ticketing scores of vehicles daily, doing so without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The town faces several state investigations, and has brought in outside help to rebuild the department. She insists like many others stopped by Brookside police that she did not run the stop sign at all. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. That contributed a 14% chunk of the citys total income, a number that would be considered high in much of America. All rights reserved (About Us). It is what happened after the stop that is most concerning to him. Leadership at every level of government is required to make our cities and towns safer. Alabama state rep. calls for Brookside mayor's resignation amid ticketing scandal, told the NBC affiliate WVTM in Birmingham, wake of the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, Attorney describes 'debtors' prison' scheme targeting poor minorities. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, originally filed on behalf of Cory Thomas, are Thomas; Tinetta Jackson; Keyarah Smith; Ben Blackwell; James Donahue; Gerald Smith; Brittany Todd; and Zachary Harris. It went from towing 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020 each carrying fines. Before the hiring blitz, Brookside's one full-time officer and several part-timers patrolled the city and its stretch of Interstate 22, writing tickets worth about $82,467 in fines. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. in the wake of news coverage about the arrest. Givan is holding a letter asking for the resignation of Mayor Mike Bryan. Ramon Perez felt that way as well, sitting in the courtroom and hearing defendants plead to the same charges over and over. But Jones was not the Chief at Brookside when he held himself out to be, using deception to disrespect that young deputy. Third, police leadership and individual officers would likely benefit from training focused not only on racial profiling, but also on overall traffic enforcement strategy. Jones testified his officers wear gray uniforms with no Brookside insignias. He was released after posting $20,000 bail. The police departments Facebook page it claims more than a million visitors became a vehicle for public shaming with embarrassing mugshots and derision for those who owe fines and fees Turn yourself in. Dollar General she insists like many others stopped by Brookside police Chief Mike Jones resigning on. Also expanded its towing operations, going from 50 vehicles in 2018 789... 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