The town also provided a set of police stats Jones presented to the Brookside council to push for more resources and authority. Defendants must pay thousands in fines and fees or pay for costly appeals to state court and poorer residents or passersby fall into patterns of debt they cannot easily escape. 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. Yet the Brookside stories come at an alarming rate. Former Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones, in a photo taken by WAAO News' Blaine Wilson, after turning himself in. He resigned Jan. 25, six days after AL.com detailed how the department preyed on drivers, and came to use fines and forfeitures to supply half the tiny towns income. Periodic review of bodycam video can be used to monitor and investigate possible profiling or other alleged misconduct. 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. Michelle Jones, of Forestdale, has fought the Brookside police department for three years. Kimberlee Hudgens was a dispatcher at the Brookside Police Department at the time of Savelles Hoover arrest. The officer said We have had people stop and record us, she said, like it explained his actions.. They own the town.. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. They had blinders on. I quit Brookside once he came back, she said. The courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. She thought the complaint was long forgotten or closed. Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. But fines and. 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. From 2018 to 2020, spending on police rose from $79,000 to $524,000, a 560% increase. The deputy has since also issued a speeding ticket to go along with the impersonation charge.. In the meantime, well continue to make good on our promises to reform policing in Brookside, said Mayor Bryan on Wednesday. Ultimately another officer took Perez to his friends house to retrieve her ID, he said. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. 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. Jones was the highest earning officer before his resignation, at $16 an hour, not counting overtime. Bryan did not respond to questions about Savelle, or Jones hiring. Will Ainsworth has requested an audit of Brooksides town and police force, and lawmakers across party lines have called for bills to help curb small-town policing for profit on Alabama Interstates. 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. 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. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Jones could not be reached for comment Friday. After being pulled over on Interstate 22 for allegedly speeding in February 2021, Anyl Pascal was arrested by Brookside police and taken to jail. 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 courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Read also: Brookside police patrolled social media, threatening town critics. All rights reserved (About Us). Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. And local court officials have thrown out or called into question more than 100 cases involving Brookside police. Address, Phone Number, and Fax Number for Brookside Police Department, a Police Department, at Main Street, Brookside AL. But its a common charge in Brookside. And so thats why I decided to fight.. 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 current and former police officers conspired to take money and property from drivers. The citizens of this state and those traveling through this state should enjoy the opportunity to freely access our roadways, he said. McDonald, the towns first dispatcher, said he too found Bryans statement lacking. 43 Brookside should consider such a policy. I think its one of those situations that could possibly bring in the feds with some oversight, he said. When the deputy approached the car, he reported that the driver of the vehicle was holding a police badge out of the drivers window, according to the affidavit filed by the county to obtain a warrant for Jones. The office of state Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, declined to comment Friday about the traffic stops in Brookside. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) - WBRC confirmed Mike Jones resigned as Brookside Police Chief. It is the second time in four days a former Brookside police officer has been jailed. "You're taking the money for them to potentially get that light fixed by making them pay a fine.". It showed that total arrests custodial, misdemeanor and felony rose 1,109% from 2018 to 2020. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 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. A manager at Dave & Busters in Hoover in 2019 called police on a man named James Bo Savelle III. Arrest powers are not confined to city limits or jurisdictional boundaries except within the State of Alabama.. In Brookside, complaints about retaliation have come time and time again, as in the case of Rev. He said response times were long because Brookside often had to rely on the Jefferson County Sheriffs department for service. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The town faces several state investigations, and has brought in outside help to rebuild the department. I honestly dont think the towns gonna be able to come back from this. The complaint seeks return of property and damages. He wanted to speak to someone who could take his badge.. Will Ainsworth requested a state audit, and amid calls for state and federal investigations. All rights reserved (About Us). All they do is take peoples rights. The interim chief and Town leaders announced reforms within the police department in February 2022. One, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur would force cities to make the amount of fines and fees they collect public. But for this: The officer said the chiefs pretty upset about that post you put on Facebook. the Brookside man told AL.com. And theyre saying they were nowhere near Brookside.. Leadership at every level of government is required to make our cities and towns safer. The special report concludes with six recommendations for Brookside leaders and the Brookside 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. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests in 2020 for every household. in the wake of news coverage about the arrest. 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). But Savelle would not be fired. I feel like they cant claim innocence in this situation., They saw dollar signs, she said of the mayors and the council. 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. Jones and Bryan said neither the town nor the police department relies on the revenue officers bring in. I have never been in any trouble only had one speeding ticket. Mayor Bryan said he inherited a bad situation when he took over as mayor in November, and was fooled by Jones. Stories of how Alabama legal systems criminalize poverty. All rights reserved (About Us). We dont like writing tickets.. 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. Police stops soared between 2018 and 2020. A third calls for guidelines on how cities and towns handle municipal courts. 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. It's a story that is really egregious and heinous for a variety of reasons.". If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. We had no knowledge of Mike Jones whereabouts after his resignation January 25, Mayor Mike Bryan said. Fourth, Brookside should avoid over-policing and overly broad traffic enforcement which creates the appearance of ticketing for revenue. The police in the city of Brookside basically created their own policing system and for years have been able to get away with it and as the report says they endangered the lives of citizens and they should be held accountable for it, Givan said. 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. Arrests on Brookside warrants went from zero to 243 in the span of two years, according to statistics Chief Jones presented to the council. She was also charged with resisting arrest. A former judge appointed to investigate claims of police abuses in the tiny Alabama town of Brookside, just north of Birmingham, has found a pattern of bullying that preyed on the poor and. 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. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Instead, the arresting officer was listed as Agent JS, while the assisting officer was Agent AR.. Turman said it critical to hold officers to a high standard. Information found on CountyOffice.org is strictly for informational purposes and does not construe legal, financial or medical advice. A police department in Brookside, Alabama, is facing allegations of policing for profit and defamation lawsuits after residents say they've received bogus charges. He was drunk and disorderly and harassed a married couple, according to a Hoover offense report. 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. soon after reports of the small towns aggressive policing, AL.com detailed how the department preyed on drivers. 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. Brookside police officers in sworn depositions indicated they did not follow drivers for a full mile and a half before or after the new law was passed, and they continued to write tickets under the old law after the new road rage bill passed. 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. Its more important now than ever before that law enforcement maintain high levels of professionalism and integrity, he said. Police advocates, including Alabama Rep. Allen Treadaway, a Republican from Morris who was an assistant police chief at Birmingham and a Fraternal Order of Police leader, said a person with such a past should never have been hired as a police officer at all. By Sen. 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