brookside, alabama police department

"Brookside will continue to cooperate with all appropriate authorities to ensure that a full investigation of these issues are completed," he said. Third party advertisements support hosting, listing verification, updates, and site maintenance. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. He is still torn, wondering if he should have fought the town harder. Givan is still pushing for change in Brookside and says those responsible should be held accountable. Arrests on Brookside warrants went from zero to 243 in the span of two years, according to statistics Chief Jones presented to the council. An investigator with the AG responded to her, and she spelled it out again in 2020. Mike Jones actually knew Bo when Bo was a kid in Explorers, McDonald said. Yet the Brookside stories come at an alarming rate. It may cost some money to go through that process, he said. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. For most of the past decade it saw little crimeonly 55 . Find Brookside residential property records including property owners, sales & transfer history, deeds & titles, property taxes, valuations, land, zoning records & more. It frightened her, and led to more trouble. Stephanie Franklin, a Jefferson County employee, told AL.com she was a passenger in a car stopped last year for an expired tag. Brookside has 1,253 people, according to the most recent census. Its very uncertain as a citizen of Brookside now.. We dont like writing tickets.. Model policies and procedures adopted in many places around the country provide a new standard of professionalism for law enforcement organizations. Brookside Police Department Contact Information Address, Phone Number, and Fax Number for Brookside Police Department, a Police Department, at Main Street, Brookside AL. Written with the support of Columbia Universitys Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Michelle Jones said she has had friends, acquaintances and family members stopped in Brookside. He was released after posting $20,000 bail. He and members of the town council complained of. 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. They were infatuated with Mike (Jones) because he was doing all this good for Brookside and they couldnt see any of the bad.. It ultimately became the reason Hudgens left her job. Michelle Jones made an official complaint to the Alabama Attorneys Generals office three years ago, arguing that Brookside police stopped her out of jurisdiction, issued a bogus citation and threatened her with more charges after she criticized them on Facebook. Which is another problem altogether, Sheriff Pettway said. Perform a free Brookside, AL public property records search, including property appraisals, unclaimed property, ownership searches, lookups, tax records, titles, deeds, and liens. The towns own investigator said police under Jones sought out those who they believed could not put up a fight poor people in particular, and those who had previous run-ins with the law. If we have to come get ya, well make you famous!, When you look at their Facebook pages its almost like they are bullies. Ramon Perez showed up for court in December ready to fight traffic citations he got in Brookside. Mayor Bryan dismissed the complaints of those who must appear in court. Brookside, which in 2018 had one full time police officer, now parks a riot control vehicle townspeople call it a tank outside the municipal complex and community center. Brookside officers have been accused in lawsuits of fabricating charges, using racist language and making up laws to stack counts on passersby. Jones said crime when he took over was higher than it appeared from numbers the town reported to the state. He reported that his Police Chief was mad.. Arrest powers are not confined to city limits or jurisdictional boundaries except within the State of Alabama.. The officer went on to say any more backlash like that towards his police department and itll be far worse than a ticket., I just stared at him, the man said. called for a financial audit by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, Mike Bryan has called for Brookside police to stop patrolling Interstate 22, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, who represents the area surrounding Brookside, has called for the resignation of Bryan, Municipal Judge Jim Wooten and City Attorney/Prosecutor Mark Parnell, Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway want to hear more, and will hold a town hall meeting, 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. Former Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones, in a photo taken by WAAO News' Blaine Wilson, after turning himself in. Dozens of people who claim they were victimized by Brookside Police have come forward to tell their stories. . By 2020 officers in the sleepy town were undergoing SWAT training and dressing in riot gear, even as the city continued with only a volunteer fire department. John Archibald: Brookside is an extreme example of a type of policing that's going on all over this country. State Representative Juandalynn Givan isnt surprised by the report. The suit also names 23 current and former officers as individual defendants. Allan Armstrong, one of a group of lawyers who filed the complaint, said Brookside violated basic American rights. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. Chief Jones testified under oath that just one of the 10 Brookside vehicles is painted with police striping, but nine others bear no emblems, and seven are tinted all the way around, making it impossible to see inside. They were doing the same thing to every person that was there. Stories from people stopped in the ticket-happy town continue to roll down like an avalanche, since AL.com last week published the story of how the tiny town turned to aggressive ticketing to build a ballooning police force that came to provide half the towns revenue. Simon led an in-depth and months long investigation into whether officers in the Brookside Police Department participated in racial profiling. About a year ago, the former head of the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police received several complaints about the Brookside Police Department. Jones, accompanied by his lawyer, Corey Bryan of Andalusia, turned himself in at the Covington County Jail on Monday, Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman said. Disparities in the rate at which drivers were stopped do not appear to be significantly different from the rate in which drivers racial and ethnic groups populate 4 Jefferson County. In 2020 they came to $610,000. Yet the town with no traffic lights collected $487 in fines and forfeitures in 2020 for every man, woman and child, though many of those fined were merely passing by on I-22. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. The interim chief and Town leaders announced reforms within the police department in February 2022. I feel bad for those guys who struggle, Perez said. The officer said We have had people stop and record us, she said, like it explained his actions.. Ramon Perez felt that way as well, sitting in the courtroom and hearing defendants plead to the same charges over and over. Brookside has operated its police and court system with the primary objective of obtaining revenue from motorists traveling on or near Interstate-22, Harris lawyers wrote in a suit filed last year. She paid the $160 ticket and began to make her case through emails to public officials, complaints, a television interview and elsewhere. They tell, with consistency, of specious tickets and arrests, of retaliation by a police department and by a chief who challenged those who questioned him as he sought to build an empire on the backs of drivers. Givan is holding a letter asking for the resignation of Mayor Mike Bryan. We dont care about tickets, Jones said. Read also: Brookside police patrolled social media, threatening town critics. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Five others resigned Jan. 28, and Jones second-in-command, former Lt. James Bo Savelle III, resigned Jan. 31, resigned after questions about his past. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency. The goals should include elevating professionalism at each level of law enforcement and civilian oversight. she said. 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. Brookside now faces at least five lawsuits. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) - We're learning more about complaints against the Brookside Police Department, this time from other members of law enforcement. Thats a 1,478% increase, with 1.7 tows for every household in town. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. But when she did, the unmarked SUV pulled into the street, crossed the center line and sped toward her car, blue lights flashing. She was not speeding, or breaking the law, she argued in the suit. Detective Johnson had called and asked that I come to the Brookside Police Department to talk to them. It did not feature a breakout of the police department. 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. He said police accused him of running a stop sign that I never did run, and he complained about it on Facebook. Which is exactly what the town is banking on, according to those who have watched Brookside grow into one of Alabamas biggest, most troublesome traffic traps. Brooksides police chief resigned in January 2022 following accusations of aggressive policing. Nationally, the average size of a force is one officer for every 588 residents, according to a Governing Magazine study that relied on federal statistics. Turman said it critical to hold officers to a high standard. (Joe Songer for al.com).Joe Songer. she added. Vincent Witt and his sister, Tareya, Chief Jones tried to intimidate her in a social media message, 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. The complaint seeks return of property and damages. He returned to his job as second in command with consent of the town council, Hudgens said. He was charged with misdemeanor possession, but also five counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, for: The names of the officers were not listed on the tickets in secretive Brookside. Neither the mayor nor chief would talk about pending litigation, but both said they have reviewed the cases involved, including bodycam footage, and said they found no wrongdoing on the citys part. She was also charged with resisting arrest. Then-Council member Bryan was there each time the police department reported their revenues to them during council meetings. At Brookside municipal court, the courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Fairness and real justice, I believe, is something people are looking for when it comes to law enforcement. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests in 2020 for every household. Brookside Police Department. Sorry for the typo, the mayor wrote. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Police Chief Mike Jones has since resigned, Lt. Gov. Tiny Brookside's style of policing under Jones has become known nationally in recent weeks. The Alabama Legislature this session passed a bill in response to Brookside that would cap at 10 percent the amount of revenue from fines and fees that a municipality can take in. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) -The town of Brookside is facing another lawsuit. Officials from the examiners office were believed to visit Brookside last week. Leadership should be aware that large-scale statistical analyses are inherently untimely and mask individual behavior. Despite that, the Shelby County case was dropped without explanation under the condition that he pay $100. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Please keep your posts factual and post links to reliable sources. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to let a class-action lawsuit go forward against an Alabama town accused of policing for profit with excessive fines and aggressive enforcement of local laws. In a sworn deposition in the civil suit Jeff Brumlow said he went to court three times before the case was ultimately dropped, and saw many people hed guess 25 to 30% of all defendants charged with the dubious left lane violation. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. In an email to her May 29, 2019, Mike Jones defended the stop, and the ability to ticket outside of Brookside. 43 Brookside should consider such a policy. Read more stories from our Banking on Crime series: If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. People who had their vehicles towed and impounded by Jetts Towing after a traffic stop. Third, police leadership and individual officers would likely benefit from training focused not only on racial profiling, but also on overall traffic enforcement strategy. Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway said the same. WBRC FOX6 News has reached out to the Town of Brookside leaders for a response to the special report, and we will update this story when we receive a response. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Jones lawyer, Bryan, did not return calls today. She agrees that there was selective enforcement. 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. Available here struggle, Perez said Representative Juandalynn givan isnt surprised by the report state Representative Juandalynn givan isnt by. The Alabama Association of Chiefs of police received several complaints about the Brookside made. Accusations of aggressive policing in the suit also names 23 current and former officers as individual.... County employee, told AL.com she was a passenger in a photo taken WAAO! Lt. 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