In December the mayor provided AL.com a budget document, based on previous years audits. Its unheard of.. 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. The next day she spoke to the husband of the woman who complained to Hoover police. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The town also expanded its towing operations, going from 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020. Perez is angry at his treatment. This analysis suggests that whites receive substantially more favorable treatment with respect to warnings than other groups.. But lawyers and law enforcement officers across central Alabama have raised questions about things in Brookside they say they have never otherwise come across. Not all of them can afford to pay their fines as he did, and some have been put on payment plans. Like those on Dec. 2. And 99% of them are lying.. By last summer, he said in a deposition, Brookside had hired eight additional full-time officers and several part-timers. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 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. Dozens of people who claim they were victimized by Brookside Police have come forward to tell their stories. Another woman, Emily Sierra, emailed AL.com to say she was pulled over in Brookside three years ago for a single flash of her lights to warn oncoming traffic about a speed trap. Brookside is the "the wild, Wild West," one state lawmaker said after its income from traffic fines and forfeitures reportedly rose 640 percent in 2 years. Monday afternoon former Birmingham Police Officer Montague Minnifield became at least the eighth person to sue Brookside over its police and court systems. He seems to want to push the blame off on everybody else when he and (former mayor) Roger McCondichie both appointed Mike Jones knowing about his past. Police Chief Mike Jones has since resigned, Lt. Gov. Fewer than 100 of its residents graduated college. They are sworn Law Enforcement Officers certified by the Alabama Peace Officers Standards Training (sic) Commission. 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. View map of Brookside Police Department, and get driving directions from your location. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. The town of 1,253 just north of Birmingham reported just 55 serious crimes to the state in the entire eight year period between 2011 and 2018 none of them homicide or rape. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Brookside Police Department Contact Information Address, Phone Number, and Fax Number for Brookside Police Department, a Police Department, at Main Street, Brookside AL. 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. A department of nine officers in a 1,253-person town is far larger than average. Bryan served as president pro tem of the council for years, and performed the duties of mayor during the long illness of his predecessor. I feel like they cant claim innocence in this situation., They saw dollar signs, she said of the mayors and the council. Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway want to hear more, and will hold a town hall meeting today. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. We dont have a law that says if you dont have ID, you go to jail, he said. 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. Between April 2018 and June 2020, they handed out 406 of those tickets, or about 15 a month, according to documents filed in the lawsuit. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests in 2020 for every household. Because I am a police officer.. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Givan is still pushing for change in Brookside and says those responsible should be held accountable. Brookside, just north of Birmingham, already faces at least 10 lawsuits about its policing. A court worker told her she would have to plead guilty or go to driving school. For most of the past decade it saw little crimeonly 55 . Dawson argued in a lawsuit against Brookside and Chief Jones that Brookside has continuously used the false left lane violation as a reason to stop and detain hundreds of motorists. BROOKSIDE, Ala. ( WIAT) On Thursday night, Alabama Rep. Juandalynn Givan will hold another town hall meeting as she works to take action against alleged illegal ticketing that has taken place in the Brookside Police Department. One, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur would force cities to make the amount of fines and fees they collect public. Privacy Policy The police wont do anything, Savelle is quoted in the report as saying. She set out to challenge it. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. Savelle was 32 at the time of his Hoover arrest, and was shown to have previous arrests for public intoxication, DUI, public lewdness, as well as multiple drug charges, the Hoover report said. 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. She argued that she only drove in the left lane to pass other vehicles, and her ticket on May 26, 2019 came five months before Alabamas Anti-Road Rage Act, a law making it illegal to drive in the left lane of an interstate for more than a mile and a half, went into effect. 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. He returned to his job as second in command with consent of the town council, Hudgens said. Officials from the examiners office were believed to visit Brookside last week. Jones could not be reached for comment on this report. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. 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). 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. Drivers, both in responding to the stories and in a town hall held last week to address police and court concerns, have complained of bullying, intimidation, detention, retribution, threats, racial profiling, and charges made up of whole cloth to stack fines on drivers, among other things. AL.com published a story outlining Brookside policing, , former Lt. James Bo Savelle III, resigned Jan. 31. says he was a passenger in car stopped for driving with an improper tag, and that he was detained, among other things. The audits show, however, how the town came to depend on the ticket money. But its a common charge in Brookside. The interim chief and Town leaders announced reforms within the police department in February 2022. Do you understand what you are charged with? the judge asked on that first Thursday in December. The city is facing at least five federal lawsuits related to its policing. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He built the department from a one-man operation to a ticket-hungry department with 10 blacked-out. All rights reserved (About Us). I have never been in any trouble only had one speeding ticket. Jones was stopped on April 12 by a Covington County deputy after being clocked driving 78 mph in a 55 zone on Alabama 55 south. Find 6 Police Departments within 8.3 miles of Brookside Police Department. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham has demanded the resignations of Bryan, Brookside City Attorney Mark Parnell and Municipal Judge Jim Wooten. Kimberlee Hudgens was a dispatcher at the Brookside Police Department at the time of Savelles Hoover arrest. John Walker was stopped in Brookside for following too closely. Some of the charges Savelle has faced predate his hiring at Brookside. She turned on her lights, according to her lawsuit, because of the approaching darkness. They were infatuated with Mike (Jones) because he was doing all this good for Brookside and they couldnt see any of the bad.. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He was released after posting $20,000 bail. He informed me that my case was never closed, said Jones, who lives in Forestdale near Birmingham. Brookside Police Department of Brookside, AL spotted in the Jefferson County Sheriff Department District at Roberta Road and Cherry Avenue., And in July, Brookside Police Department of Brookside, AL operating outside its city limits. In addition, she said, counting on fines and fees collected from people in lower income and marginalized communities only serves to punish them further. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The officer said We have had people stop and record us, she said, like it explained his actions.. He waved it around the restaurant, in front of customers and staff. Type: Lawyer Martin Weinberg had a client in Brookside, a young man named Thomas Hall, who was stopped for speeding and found with a small amount of marijuana. [Montgomery, Alabama] Former Brookside Police Chief Dennis Ray McCoy, 53, of Dora, was recently convicted of several charges stemming from investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), including using his official position for personal gain, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, obtaining criminal offender record information under false pretenses, and computer tampering. The resignations include former chief Mike Jones, who built the tiny towns department from a one-man agency in 2018 to one that, according to data the town provided to AL.com in response to a public records request, included 13 full time officers and two reserves. The office of state Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, declined to comment Friday about the traffic stops in Brookside. Other groups claim innocence in this situation., they saw dollar signs, she said of the and. Her lawsuit, because of the past decade it saw little crimeonly 55 receive! 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