In 2020, she had explained her case this way to the AGs office: The person threatened me with an arrest if I did not take down my Facebook pictures and posts of their police officers, stop sending emails to the local politicians, as well as others, and show them (Brookside police) that I understand law enforcement practices.. Jones says she was polite to the officer, but was convinced the ticket was unfounded and given outside the Brookside police jurisdiction. Its my understanding that a guy can go out there and I mean, he can fall into a black hole, Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said of drivers getting entangled financially. Mayor Bryan dismissed the complaints of those who must appear in court. It has one retail store, the Dollar General, and three septic tank services. He was very ugly from the start.. After I told him that I would not, he reported that they have two warrants for my arrest. Brookside cops were on a high-priority case in 2019. 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. Bill Dawson, a lawyer who has represented several clients in Brookside, said defendants have faced possession charges for a joint, with paraphernalia charges tacked on for the paper it was rolled in. At least two others were in arrears on child support, and another had been charged with harassment, though the charges were dropped. As she stepped out of Jernigan Healthcare the two snapped handcuffs on Hodges wrists and led her to the police car. 10, 2022 at 9:06 PM PST. Chief Jones resigned on Jan. 25. Sheriff Pettway gaped at the Brookside ratio. They were there for a good while, Hudgens said. They own the town.. I saw him and we looked eye to eye, the Chelsea business owner said. Brookside has two drug-sniffing dogs one named K9 Cash to search the cars of stopped motorists. Monday afternoon former Birmingham Police Officer Montague Minnifield became at least the eighth person to sue Brookside over its police and court systems. Baggett took Ubers and Lyfts to the Avondale area of Birmingham to work, at $35 a pop, plus tip. It may cost some money to go through that process, he said. Her lawyers argue that the city uses obscure possible violations to justify stopping and searching passersby, hoping to add more offenses in a sort of highway lottery to fill the coffers. We will be reviewing the details of the allegations with the Towns legal counsel. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. A California man is facing multiple felony charges in Alabama after allegedly kidnapping a woman at knifepoint and holding her hostage in Brookside on Sunday.The Brookside Police Department said officers responded to a report of a woman being kidnapped by a man in driving a white van around 2:45 p.m. on Brookside Coalburg Road. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency. 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. 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. 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. He swore hed seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He was also ticketed for improper signal, though he cant even fathom how that might have occurred. Privacy Policy She pulled to the side of the road as the SUV pulled behind her, and a wrecker simultaneously parked nearby. The lowest-paid officers made $12 an hour. He complained when frozen food for jail inmates was improperly stored for long periods in refrigerators because there was no freezer. Town officials ignored signs of trouble because they were so infatuated with the influx of money that they had blinders on, she said. (Joe Songer for al.com).Joe Songer. A department of nine officers in a 1,253-person town is far larger than average. Sarathy Jones said the issues in Brookside should be a warning for towns and small cities to examine their revenue sources and ensure their local governments aren't turning to law enforcement as moneymaking arms. McDonald began to struggle with the ethics of it. By 2020 - due almost entirely to aggressive policing - it rose to $1.2 million. At a Feb. 1 town hall meeting near Brookside, residents and drivers told vivid stories of police abuses and more meanness and called for investigations, restitution and even dissolution of the police force and the town itself. It was something that I should not have been stopped for, Brumlow said in sworn testimony. The abuses that have come to light in Brookside were simmering for years and no one in power was paying attention, she said. "Their whole financial existence starts to spiral, and it was all over a light on their car not working.". Harris lawyers contend she was taken to the Brookside jail, strip-searched, and told she could be jailed up to two days. 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. A police report said he drunkenly and aggressively harassed a woman and her companion. 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. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. In addition, she said, counting on fines and fees collected from people in lower income and marginalized communities only serves to punish them further. I think it could be more.. The town collected surplus valued at $760,846, more than accepted by Birmingham or Montgomery, and among the highest totals in Alabama. All rights reserved (About Us). James Sebestain Bo Savelle III (Photo courtesy of Hoover Police). 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. All rights reserved (About Us). That contributed a 14% chunk of the citys total income, a number that would be considered high in much of America. Ultimately another officer took Perez to his friends house to retrieve her ID, he said. 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. He absolutely would embarrass you. She has watched and documented stops there. He posted his displeasure on Facebook, he said, and then a police officer stopped him, blue lights flashing. And the police chief has called for more. (Fiscal Year Oct- Sept) Year #Tickets . I think its one of those situations that could possibly bring in the feds with some oversight, he said. The chief of police at a northern Jefferson County police department resigned on Tuesday. Its unheard of.. 1331, Federal Question jurisdiction, because the case is a civil rights lawsuit brought Over the past few years there has been a sharp rise in the number of Brookside traffic tickets. The money Hudgens spoke of was substantial. Attempts to reach Tidwell were unsuccessful. They've also been accused of using racist language in a community that is majority white, but also has a Black population of nearly 25 percent and a small but growing Latino population. Netta Womack tells her story about Brookside police at a town hall Tuesday February 1, 2022. In May of 2019, the month Brumlow was stopped, Brookside officers ticketed 75 people for driving in the left lane. Unsure what was happening, Harris dialed 911. Police put her in a patrol car and searched her vehicle for drugs. 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. Brookside, population 1,253, had never even had an annual budget. These figures were provided by the city: Brookside Police. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. (Joe Songer for al.com).Joe Songer, I see her, she heard the man say. He said people have stories about their cars getting towed and being left on the side of the road, then being charged by both the town and the impound company to get their vehicles back, on top of daily storage fees. Attempts to reach Jones have been unsuccessful since January. Officers said they stopped her because the tag light on her Honda Odyssey was not visible from 50 feet away. Olive. requested an audit of Brooksides town and police force, have called for bills to help curb small-town policing, sometimes appropriated by white supremacists, in the case of Rev. He looked closer and noticed troublesome code words that offered vague excuses such as driver acted nervous to justify questionable stops. This is extortion., The 46-page complaint claims each of the named police officers, under former police chief Mike Jones, knew that they were violating the constitutional, statutory, and common law rights of the Classes pled herein, and did so to create more revenue for the Town of Brookside so that they, in turn, could enjoy the fruits of that revenue in the form of pay, benefits, equipment, and receipt of the profits from policing as described herein.. Brookside walked away. Her boss paid her fine. I always pray, and this day has come at the right time, Netta Womack said at the town hall. The town survives on the fringes of Birmingham with tax revenue from the Dollar General, which forms the totality of its commercial district. Everybodys got a story, he said. 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 . Hudgens said she quit as a dispatcher because of the way the town handled and in her mind, glossed over Savelles arrest. Investigators stored them as evidence, diapers and all, in a closet in the lieutenants office. NEW! 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 . Popularity:#11 of 45 Police Departments in Jefferson County#69 of 565 Police Departments in Alabama#2,237 in Police Departments. "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?" Law-abiding citizens should not fall prey to a renegade police department that is accountable to no one.. Jetts then demanded its own payment sometimes more than the citys, and demanded cash for owners to retrieve their vehicles. 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. They would not share the footage. brookside, alabama police jurisdiction map. And it broke her heart, it broke my heart.. Erik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality. Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. We made the decision that we wouldnt do that again, that this would just be a self-contained Brookside, said council member Chris McCondichie, the former mayors son. A police department in Brookside, Alabama, is facing allegations of policing for profit and defamation lawsuits after residents say they've received bogus charges. That's a 1,478% increase, with 1.7 tows for every household in town. Brookside is just 10 miles north of Birmingham, but in ways it is ages away. It is unclear whether the resignations were forced, or if the officers chose to leave on their own, or a mixture of both. By Josh Gauntt. Neither the mayor nor chief would talk about pending litigation, but both said they have reviewed the cases involved, including bodycam footage, and said they found no wrongdoing on the citys part. 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.
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