All rights reserved (About Us). He swore hed seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. 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. But Jones was not the Chief at Brookside when he held himself out to be, using deception to disrespect that young deputy. However, Jones resigned or was let go from Brooksides police department on Jan. 25, soon after reports of the small towns aggressive policing drew the attention of state lawmakers and local officials. His car was towed with apologies from the tow-truck driver costing him several hundred dollars. 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. The towns administrative expenditures rose 40% and overall spending jumped 112%, from $553,000 in 2018 to $1.2 million in 2020. 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. Brookside's police chief resigned in January 2022 following accusations of aggressive policing. Police stacked fines on them, often towed their cars and generated revenue that went right back into the police department. 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. 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. In fact the woman her name is redacted in the report told police she turned around and hit him after Savelle snuck up behind her and grabbed her buttocks.. The suit also names 23 current and former officers as individual defendants. 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. They were shining these flashlights in my car and it was daylight. The police wont do anything, Savelle is quoted in the report as saying. Brookside is a poor town, 70% white, 21% Black, with a small but growing Hispanic population and a median income well below the state average. Thats 49% of the small towns skyrocketing revenue. 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. In addition, she said, counting on fines and fees collected from people in lower income and marginalized communities only serves to punish them further. Because people overwhelmed by debt have been shown to turn to crime to pay their fines an argument can be made that this kind of policing creates crime, Crowder said. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. About a year ago, the former head of the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police received several complaints about the Brookside Police Department. The town also expanded its towing operations, going from 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020. He said police accused him of running a stop sign that I never did run, and he complained about it on Facebook. John Archibald: Brookside is an extreme example of a type of policing that's going on all over this country. Leadership at every level of government is required to make our cities and towns safer. Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway want to hear more, and will hold a town hall meeting today. At Brookside municipal court, the courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. 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. We get calls about Brookside quite regularly because they really go outside their jurisdiction to stop people, Pettway said. Bryan did not respond to questions about Savelle, or Jones hiring. 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. In the second town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Juandalynn Givan and Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway, attendees addressed more concerns with the city's police. That meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office Training Center in Fultondale, 3500 Happy Hollow Lane. Brookside Police Department in Brookside, Alabama, get driving directions from your location, Birmingham Police Department - North Precinct, Department Of Public Safety Highway Patrol Post - Birmingham, Jefferson County Pistol Permits & Gun Licenses, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Most Wanted Sex Offenders, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Offender Search, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Website, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Website (Alabama), Brookside public safety & filing complaints, Brookside Police Department jobs and employment. He and members of the town council complained of. Hudgens, who lives in Brookside, said she is concerned for her town. His phone is not accepting calls and he did not return emails to an address listed as belonging to him. I quit Brookside once he came back, she said. During his time as a council member, Mike Bryan voted for and helped to pass ordinances strengthening the Brookside Police Department in addition to passing city budgets with revenues increasing over 600%, she said. They gave me a ticket for running a stop sign. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The police have ordered vehicles towed for lack of insurance, while ignoring owners' efforts to show insurance documentation. Walker told the judge he will fight the charge. called for the second town hall meeting this week. Seven Brookside police officers have resigned since details of the towns aggressive policing strategy gained national attention in January. Name Brookside Police Department Suggest Edit Address 208 Main Street Brookside , Alabama , 35036 Phone 205-674-9275 Fax 205-674-9547 Brookside Police Department Details Type 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. He was very upset about what happened, she said. She vividly recalls the events of that night and the following day. You cant do whats going on over there.. Everybodys got a story, he said. A Peace Officer sworn in the State of Alabama can enforce the law anywhere in the State of Alabama, he wrote in an email. I can stand a thief better than a dirty cop. At least three bills are now before the Legislature that would affect those cities. As we have seen, overly aggressive traffic enforcement is not the way forward. Theres no way I was going to run that stop sign.. 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. In May of 2019, the month Brumlow was stopped, Brookside officers ticketed 75 people for driving in the left lane. This is the statement from the Town of Brookside: Mike Jones resigned as the Police Chief for the Town of Brookside. 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. Another would bar police from using unmarked cars for traffic stops. All rights reserved. Bryan served as president pro tem of the council for years, and performed the duties of mayor during the long illness of his predecessor. On July 10th, 2019, 16 days after she paid her ticket, her phone rang. 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. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. They were doing the same thing to every person that was there. 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. AL.com found court records that detail a string of financial troubles for Jones, as state and federal lawsuits reveal employees, lawyers, creditors and others who claim Jones company, Event Operations Group, did not pay them or failed to live up to obligations. CountyOffice.org does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Brooksides police chief resigned in January 2022 following accusations of aggressive policing. Sorry for the typo, the mayor wrote. Fewer than 100 of its residents graduated college. Yet Savelle was right-hand man to then-Brookside Chief Mike Jones, and since Jones was out of town during the arrest, Savelle served as acting chief when Hoover police approached him at Dave & Busters. He had a net worth of $55,000 and a monthly income of $2,244, according to federal records. Turman said it critical to hold officers to a high standard. Mayor Bryan dismissed the complaints of those who must appear in court. I saw the same attitude in every officer and every person, he said. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT) As the Brookside Police Department debacle continues, the call for Mayor Mike Bryan and other leaders to resign still rings among those who have been victims by the city's officers. 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. 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. Mike Jones actually knew Bo when Bo was a kid in Explorers, McDonald said. Lt. Gov. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. She agrees that there was selective enforcement. Brookside Mayor Mike Bryan said in a statement, We cannot comment on the lawsuits filed Monday. Officers in Brookside have been accused in lawsuits of manufacturing reasons for traffic stops, overcharging and "making up laws," AL.com reported. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. 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. Brookside officials this afternoon said in a statement that the Tahoe is registered in Jones name and does not belong to Brookside. 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. 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. Michelle Jones said she has had friends, acquaintances and family members stopped in Brookside. People who were stopped by Brookside police and fined more than the state allows. 43 Brookside should consider such a policy. In an email to her May 29, 2019, Mike Jones defended the stop, and the ability to ticket outside of Brookside. I dont condone it, but you know, Im not the chief out there.. McDonald, the towns first dispatcher, said he too found Bryans statement lacking. Brookside police gave her a ticket in May of 2019 for running a stop sign at Roberta Road and Cherry Avenue across I-22 from Brookside. Like those on Dec. 2. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency. Unsure what was happening, Harris dialed 911. Brookside, just north of Birmingham, already faces at least 10 lawsuits about its policing. Then-Council member Bryan was there each time the police department reported their revenues to them during council meetings. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Former Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones was arrested May 2, 2022 in Covington County, Ala., charged with impersonating a police officer. Kimberlee Hudgens was a dispatcher at the Brookside Police Department at the time of Savelles Hoover arrest. AL.com also sought connection through Brookside officials. However, our analysis did find significant evidence of selective enforcement with respect to warning tickets. Police put her in a patrol car and searched her vehicle for drugs. Ive been irritated in these comments that come from Mike Bryan, McDonald said. Those charges include possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to state records. But it's also prevalent across the country. Audits by Philip Morgan & Co., covering at least five consecutive years, pointed out as a shortcoming that the town did not have a budget or a policy of adopting one annually. I saw him and we looked eye to eye, the Chelsea business owner said. He said the case remains active and under investigation, and he is trying to determine if the Chevy Tahoe that Jones was driving once belonged to the town of Brookside. A report quoted in the suit claimed she tighten (sic) arm muscles from getting handcuff (sic).. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) - We're learning more about complaints against the Brookside Police Department, this time from other members of law enforcement. I know that.. If you have a witness with you, theyre gonna issue you a warning., I felt that basically, that this was a way for them to make money to fund their city off the backs of citizens from other areas. 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. When he declared bankruptcy in 2019, Jones owed $300,000 in tax liens and $2.2 million in total claims. The audits show, however, how the town came to depend on the ticket money. She set out to challenge it. They own the town.. There is no trust," Representative Juandalynn Givan said. Yet the Brookside stories come at an alarming rate. The military-styled vehicles have already been returned to the State, our police cars have been re-striped, and the Town is investing in new, easily identifiable uniforms for the police officers., Civil RICO case filed again by John Archibald. The transformation of Brookside's police department began in 2018, under the direction of long-serving and now late Mayor Roger McCondichie. They are sworn Law Enforcement Officers certified by the Alabama Peace Officers Standards Training (sic) Commission. He said response times were long because Brookside often had to rely on the Jefferson County Sheriffs department for service. Find Arrest Records, Police Records, and Warrants related to Brookside Police Department. Despite that, the Shelby County case was dropped without explanation under the condition that he pay $100. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. 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. Leadership should be aware that large-scale statistical analyses are inherently untimely and mask individual behavior. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Source: Yahoo Images. The primary function of the Police Department is deterring crime, stopping crimes in progress, investigating crimes, and serving as first responders for emergencies and situations that threaten public safety. The Brookside Police Department is located on Municipal Drive, and the Chief of Police is Jason Springfield. 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. It claims those involved violated the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Hobbs Act which makes it illegal to obstruct interstate commerce by robbery or extortion. Savelle pulled out a Brookside Police Department badge before Hoover officers arrived, according to the report that cited witnesses and the presence of cameras. She insists like many others stopped by Brookside police that she did not run the stop sign at all. 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. But Savelle would not be fired. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, talks to reporters about reports of police abuses in the town of Brookside, which is in her Jefferson County district. I could take over the whole county with numbers like that, he joked. In 2018, reporters for ABC 33/40 said they asked the former mayor of Brookside about Jones financial problems when he was hired. But Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared after that, and the towns law-enforcement goals and its reputation changed. Givan is holding a letter asking for the resignation of Mayor Mike Bryan. Thats why I hesitated to fight it. Franklin said she believes the only reason she wasnt arrested was because she works for Jefferson County. Savelle on Monday resigned from the Brookside Department, hours after AL.com asked city officials about his past. 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. Find Brookside residential property records including property owners, sales & transfer history, deeds & titles, property taxes, valuations, land, zoning records & more. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the police department that serves the area, where Mike Hale is the sheriff. They were infatuated with Mike (Jones) because he was doing all this good for Brookside and they couldnt see any of the bad.. Not all of them can afford to pay their fines as he did, and some have been put on payment plans. 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. Over the last several months, the Brookside Police Department has faced scrutiny over its ticketing practices, as well as alleged corruption. The Brookside police staff, based on this data, came to one officer for every 84 residents in January. 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. 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. 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). 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 charges against Savelle were misdemeanors, meaning they wouldnt necessarily disqualify him from being certified as a police officer in Alabama, even if he had been convicted. And it broke her heart, it broke my heart.. I have never been in any trouble only had one speeding ticket. 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. After I told him that I would not, he reported that they have two warrants for my arrest. Michelle Jones, of Forestdale, has fought the Brookside police department for three years. Her in a patrol car and searched her vehicle for drugs enforcement is not Chief. 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