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. What I had watched in court with the use of this particular charge, I mean, just to be quite frank, it offended me that a court would act that way and that a city would act that way toward people who really dont have that kind of money, he testified. Brumlows uncle, Jeff Brumlow, is the longtime prosecutor and city attorney for the city of Alabaster, and a GOP candidate for Shelby County district judge. She said she was asked to pat down female inmates, and was once made to perform a cavity search on a woman suspected of having drugs. Not for speeding, or running a stop sign, or any violation. Perez is Hispanic, and his passenger was a Brookside resident, also Hispanic, who didnt have her purse with her, Perez said. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Jones and Bryan said neither the town nor the police department relies on the revenue officers bring in. She was stopped on Valentines Day of 2021 as she drove home during a winter storm warning. She refused. 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 from 2018. In the meantime, well continue to make good on our promises to reform policing in Brookside, said Mayor Bryan on Wednesday. "What if $150 is the cost of choosing between feeding my child, getting their medicine or paying this ticket?" , threats, embarrassing social media posts and even blue-light traffic stops. CNN's Nick Valencia reports. Jones put out word that Brookside was hiring officers and dispatchers for the new department, which he cast as an interstate drug unit. McDonald attributed it to cruelty.. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. Two or three days later Brookside police stopped him again. 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. Find 6 Police Departments within 8.3 miles of Brookside Police Department. Information found on CountyOffice.org is strictly for informational purposes and does not construe legal, financial or medical advice. In December the mayor provided AL.com a budget document, based on previous years audits. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Police put her in a patrol car and searched her vehicle for drugs. As the department grew, employees say it reflected Jones vision. Officers crammed evidence like those trash bags wherever space could be found, according to a state audit released this month. Mayor Bryan dismissed the complaints of those who must appear in court. AL.com in January reported how Brookside used fines and forfeitures to bring in almost half the town revenue in 2020, and how its police department grew exponentially under Chief Jones. This Court has jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. Brookside Police Department, Jefferson County, Alabama. The lowest-paid officers made $12 an hour. As the state audit pointed out, such fees must be reasonably related to covering the cost of administration, not to generate revenue.. 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. He feels the police saw him as prey, and treated him as such. 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. I said, Where are yall taking my car? she said. By 2020 due almost entirely to aggressive policing it rose to $1.2 million. You cant do whats going on over there.. She had no preparations for such an invasive procedure. The courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. The town has also grown its police force in size and now has one officer for every 144 residents. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Traffic tickets, and criminalizing those who passed through, became the citys leading industry. Fewer than 100 of its residents graduated college. The complaint alleges numerous constitutional violations, and we believe the citizens need to be protected from illegal actions by the Town of Brookside.. We will be reviewing the details of the allegations with the Towns legal counsel. Brookside Police Department Contact Information. She paid the $160 ticket and began to make her case through emails to public officials, complaints, a television interview and elsewhere. In 2018 total revenue for the town of Brookside was $586,000. In Brookside, complaints about retaliation have come time and time again, as in the case of Rev. Lawyers for eight people argued this month in a federal lawsuit that Brookside and Jetts Towing engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity. The lawyers cited federal anti-corruption RICO statutes and the Hobbs Act. City officials have said they cannot comment on personnel issues, though they did provide, as part of the records request, a breakdown of officer pay. He was also ticketed for improper signal, though he cant even fathom how that might have occurred. For Michelle Jones, it has been a dedicated three-year fight. "Even if you legitimately stop someone because they need a light on their car fixed, if you give them a ticket, how does that meet the goal that a person's car be made safer?" By Josh Gauntt. Jones resigned January 25th, six days after AL.com published a story outlining Brookside policing and a court system that collected 49 percent of the towns 2020 revenue from fines and forfeitures, a practice lambasted by residents, drivers, top law enforcement officials and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Town leaders did not question. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and GOP Lt. Gov. Vincent Witt and his sister, Tareya, who said the small police department fabricated charges against them and listed them as fugitives because Witt complained about an officers racist remark. Transfer Portal. When Jones was hired as chief in 2018, he was the only full-time police officer, he said in sworn testimony for a lawsuit filed against him and the city. 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). Top FB Transfers; Latest FB Transfers; By Position FB Transfers; NCAA FB A year in Brookside is a pretty long time. Military vehicles used by the Brookside Police Dept. 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. Seven Brookside police officers have resigned since details of the towns aggressive policing strategy gained national attention in January. Baggett took Ubers and Lyfts to the Avondale area of Birmingham to work, at $35 a pop, plus tip. The law, according to Hudgens, was what Mike Jones said it was. RELATED: How government reliance on fines and fees cripples families. The resignations include former chief Mike Jones . I had to be patient., Netta Womack tells her story. The town of Brookside confirmed that Chief Mike Jones resigned from his position in a brief press release Tuesday afternoon. 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. Published: Mar. 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. Lawyer Bill Dawson, who has filed multiple lawsuits against Brookside, first became aware of the towns overreach in 2019. Court is now set to resume this Thursday. Dawson and Danneman suspected what the world would come to know in January, when Brooksides reign would end as suddenly as it started. Officers appeared to approach drivers with the presumption that they were guilty of something, many drivers would later say. Advertisement. Name Brookside Police Department Address 208 Main Street Brookside, Alabama, 35036 Phone 205-674-9275 Fax 205-674-9547 People abused by small town's "policing for profit" file class action seeking accountability. You will not touch it.. BROOKSIDE, Ala. Tuesday's town hall called to discuss issues involving the Brookside Police Department is already causing change to happen.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. She set out to challenge it. At right, clockwise from top: Netta Womack, who prayed for relief, plaintiff Jori Jones, Chana Hodges, and Rev. Im still kind of in debt from that.. Oftentimes, a person's decision to forgo paying a fine goes deeper, Sarathy Jones said. Multiple drivers say Jetts Towing Co. showed up on the side of the road at the same time as police stops. The examiners sharp report was released this month, outlining missing guns, poor financial practices and shoddy storage of evidence, including an unmarked trash bag filled with prescription medicines that did not seem to be associated with any particular case. 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. Jones again as Mayor Bryan nodded said the goal of the department is only to help people. We had cameras in dispatch and there were multiple times when he would bring an inmate into his office and shut the door, she said. I dont condone it, but you know, Im not the chief out there.. Others werent so fortunate. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Brookside prosecutor Mark Parnell, fought dismissal of some of those cases, but asked for the dismissal of others. "Brookside will continue to cooperate with all appropriate authorities to ensure that a full investigation of these issues are completed," he said. Ramon Perez came to court last month ready to fight the tickets hed been handed by Brookside police, including one for rolling through a stop sign and another for driving 48 mph in a 40 zone. And a Brookside man told AL.com police in the town pulled him over with blue lights and told him there would be consequences if he posted more about the police on Facebook. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. They let her out of jail at midnight, long after her family had made bond. The town became the poster child for policing for profit when AL.com published a series of revelations Jan. 19. And while sitting in court I heard that half the court was also stopped for the same thing.. 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. Related: Pastor, sister say rogue police force sought revenge. While police filled the cells by citing the letter of the law to drivers, they did not apply that standard to themselves. Ive seen it, DA Carr said. 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. 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. And the police chief has called for more. (Ramsey Archibald and Joe Songer). Like those on Dec. 2. On top of the third party audit, the town has retained a former Jefferson County judge to . Hudgens oversaw inmates in the two little town hall rooms adapted as jail cells. Fallout over the Brookside revelations continues. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Lawyers for eight people who say they were wronged by Brookside police on Wednesday filed an amended complaint in Alabama, arguing the town, the towing company it used to seize vehicles, and 23 . Franklin said she believes the only reason she wasnt arrested was because she works for Jefferson County. Fines . She fought it instead. It puts all cities, towns, and crossroads on full notice that such behavior is unacceptable. Lord, after all this time you heard me. She said she tried to record the interaction after three officers in two vehicles pulled her car over, but an officer with a valknot symbol a Norse sign sometimes appropriated by white supremacists on a ring and one of his gun clips confiscated her phone. 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. We dont care about tickets, Jones said. When drivers asked why they were being treated as criminals, officers responded, as Jeanetta Jones claims they did to her, by saying they were the police, and could do what they wanted. 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. The Birmingham Times reported that nearly half of Brookside's revenue in 2020 came from forfeitures and fines. He told me it would be in my best interest if I just shut the F up, she said. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. James Sebestain Bo Savelle III (Photo courtesy of Hoover Police). A year before, Brooksides low-key, one-man police department had begun to metastasize, at the behest of town leaders, into an insatiable band of reverse Robin Hoods, stopping so many cars, detaining and arresting so many people that it couldnt keep up. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. BROOKSIDE, AL (WBMA) - A federal lawsuit has been filed over allegations Brookside Police should not have written traffic tickets under an old Alabama law. Police take an oath to protect and serve the public. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on an official government site. Time after time they say they were pulled over by multiple officers in multiple vehicles for minor charges such as expired tag or following too closely, that they were searched, towed, and forced to pay large fines for violations many say they did not commit. Savelle had a history of trouble. The issue gained prominence in the wake of the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, when a report by a St. Louis-area public defender group found that Black drivers in Ferguson were more likely to be stopped by police and local courts were abusing their power by charging high fines and fees for nonviolent offenses, sometimes leading to arrests when they went unpaid. The office of state Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, declined to comment Friday about the traffic stops in Brookside. It comes in the . It frightened her, and led to more trouble. 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. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency.