I can stand a thief better than a dirty cop. Jones and Bryan said neither the town nor the police department relies on the revenue officers bring in. Savelle was second in command at Brookside, which came under fire two weeks ago when an AL.com story revealed a department so intent on ticketing and criminalizing motorists that by 2020 it came to draw half the towns revenue from fines and forfeitures. In a report published by AL.com, figures pointed to half of the town's revenue had come from an increase in fines and forfeitures, including officers taking property during traffic stops. "You're taking the money for them to potentially get that light fixed by making them pay a fine.". 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. The town now faces 13 lawsuits. Citizen and officer safety, and protection of constitutional rights, should be among the prime goals of such training. This analysis suggests that whites receive substantially more favorable treatment with respect to warnings than other groups.. BROOKSIDE, Ala. ( WIAT) Tuesday's town hall called to discuss issues involving the Brookside Police Department is already causing change to happen. she added. State agents last week began an inquiry and audit into the Brookside Police Department to find out whether it and its officers complied with state laws and regulations, according to a statement from Chief R. Alan Benefield, executive secretary of the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission. Jones could not be reached for comment on this report. Over-policing can also create the perception of racial profiling when it appears to target minority citizens. We will be reviewing the details of the allegations with the Towns legal counsel. Brooksides police chief resigned in January 2022 following accusations of aggressive policing. The resignation follows an investigative report by al.com. It was something that I should not have been stopped for, Brumlow said in sworn testimony. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. She vividly recalls the events of that night and the following day. It is the second time in four days a former Brookside police officer has been jailed. 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. He built the department from a one-man operation to a ticket-hungry department with 10 blacked-out vehicles, two drug-sniffing dogs and a riot control vehicle. A Hoover officer wrote that Savelle had his Brookside badge and a gun in his pocket, though he initially lied about being armed when asked by officers.. Savelle on Monday resigned from the Brookside Department, hours after AL.com asked city officials about his past. In his call to Jones this week, the investigator said he could not tell me anything because of the ongoing investigation, Jones said. It went from towing 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020 each carrying fines. Officer Deshawn Mark Cook, who worked in Brookside as recently as Thursday, was arrested Friday on charges of first degree rape stemming from 2021. 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. Brookside, Alabama - a poor town, 70% white, 21% black with a small but growing Hispanic population and a median income "well below the state average" has made national news because of the Brookside Police Department (BPD). 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. It showed police in 2020 patrolled 114,438 miles in the 6.3-mile town and issued more than 3,000 citations - a 692% increase. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. After I told him that I would not, he reported that they have two warrants for my arrest. But Savelle would not be fired. His car was towed with apologies from the tow-truck driver costing him several hundred dollars. The complaint seeks return of property and damages. People who were detained by Brookside officers beyond a traffic stop. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. Which is another problem altogether, Sheriff Pettway said. Alabama Senate candidate Lisa Ward said ex-Chief Jones tried to intimidate her in a social media message after she shared the AL.com story on Facebook. Leadership should be aware that large-scale statistical analyses are inherently untimely and mask individual behavior. A Brookside officer ticketed Brumlow under Alabama code section 32-5-77, which her lawyers contend does not contain a crime. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) - WBRC confirmed Mike Jones resigned as Brookside Police Chief. Jones could not be reached for comment Friday. "Brookside is a continuation of that story almost 10 years later. She had an asthma attack and a panic attack, but when she knocked on the door to alert a guard, a jailer said if she continued to knock she would be charged with attempting to escape. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. "Their whole financial existence starts to spiral, and it was all over a light on their car not working.". Read also: Brookside police patrolled social media, threatening town critics. She insists like many others stopped by Brookside police that she did not run the stop sign at all. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. Find Arrest Records, Police Records, and Warrants related to Brookside Police Department. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Last year, based on Jones testimony, Brookside had at least one officer for every 144 residents. (Joe Songer for al.com).Joe Songer. . 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. In addition, the police charged her with making a false 911 call, obstructing government operations by refusing to give proper papers, and disorderly conduct for yelling for others to come out of their homes. But Jones was not the Chief at Brookside when he held himself out to be, using deception to disrespect that young deputy. Savelle pulled out a Brookside Police Department badge before Hoover officers arrived, according to the report that cited witnesses and the presence of cameras. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Jones was a Helena police officer and president of the city council in the Shelby County town until late 2018 when, as ABC 33/40s Cynthia Gould reported at the time, he stopped coming to meetings without explanation while his personal security business ran into trouble. A Peace Officer sworn in the State of Alabama can enforce the law anywhere in the State of Alabama, he wrote in an email. 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. There were two cars and one SUV that surrounded my car and police were everywhere, she wrote. Theres no way I was going to run that stop sign.. Michelle Jones, of Forestdale, has fought the Brookside police department for three years. Turman said it critical to hold officers to a high standard. Dawson also represents Victoria Brumlow, a young woman who like hundreds more was stopped on I-22 and ticketed for driving on the left lane of the interstate. 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. This is at the corner of Roberta Road and Mulberry Road, which is far away from their city limits.. There are only 1,253 people in Brookside, and one store, the Dollar General. Dozens of people who claim they were victimized by Brookside Police have come forward to tell their stories. (Photographerlondon / Dreamstime.com) Brookside, Alabama, has a population of less than 1,500 people. Thats a 1,478% increase, with 1.7 tows for every household in town. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside Police Department. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Minnifield says he was a passenger in car stopped for driving with an improper tag, and that he was detained, among other things. One, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur would force cities to make the amount of fines and fees they collect public. But fines and. They let her out of jail at midnight, long after her family had made bond. Its more important now than ever before that law enforcement maintain high levels of professionalism and integrity, he said. The audits show, however, how the town came to depend on the ticket money. 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 and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway want to hear more, and will hold a town hall meeting today. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). However, our analysis did find significant evidence of selective enforcement with respect to warning tickets. Harris lawyers contend she was taken to the Brookside jail, strip-searched, and told she could be jailed up to two days. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. Still, police seized his car, and refused to return it, though they didnt begin official forfeiture proceedings. 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. 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. Not speeding, not swerving, just using the left lane. Savelle was given pre-trial release, but Shelby County Community Corrections asked a judge a few weeks later to revoke Savelles bond when he willfully failed to comply with the conditions by failing to pay fees for drug screening, failing three alcohol tests and failing to show up for drug tests, court records show. Fourth, Brookside should avoid over-policing and overly broad traffic enforcement which creates the appearance of ticketing for revenue. The town could benefit from a formal complaint procedure to provide real time information on alleged racial profiling incidents or incidents of alleged misbehavior of any kind -- at the individual officer level. The affidavit says Jones told the Covington deputy he was the chief in Brookside, a town a couple hundred miles north, just past Birmingham. In 2018, when the town had one full-time police officer and a few part-timers, it reported no serious crimes to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center. Ramon Perez felt that way as well, sitting in the courtroom and hearing defendants plead to the same charges over and over. She pulled to the side of the road as the SUV pulled behind her, and a wrecker simultaneously parked nearby. The news outlet found that Jones positioned officers to stop motorists so aggressively that income from traffic fines and forfeitures rose 640 percent from 2018 to 2020, from about $82,000 to more than $610,000. The transformation of Brookside's police department began in 2018, under the direction of long-serving and now late Mayor Roger McCondichie. I cant stand a dirty cop, Sheriff Turman told AL.com. Savelle made $15.82 an hour, and all others made less. Brookside Police did patrol the 1.5-mile stretch of Interstate 22 within their jurisdiction and wrote tickets that brought in $82,467 in fines. People stopped by Brookside police more than a mile and half outside the town limits. He reported that his Police Chief was mad.. Stories of how Alabama legal systems criminalize poverty. 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. 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. Police Chief Mike Jones has since resigned, Lt. Gov. But lawyers and law enforcement officers across central Alabama have raised questions about things in Brookside they say they have never otherwise come across. Section 32-5-77, which her lawyers contend does not contain a crime dirty. Held himself out to be, using deception brookside, alabama police department disrespect that young deputy and. Stand a thief better than a dirty cop, Sheriff turman told AL.com pulled behind her, and related... 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