We were not trained whatsoever, she said. In a statement, Brookside City Attorney Mark Parnell said that as the local prosecutor, he has "strived to ensure" only police charges with merit moved forward or were otherwise dismissed. People stopped by Brookside police more than a mile and half outside the town limits. The town's latest release came out early February 1st. The town also expanded its towing operations, going from 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020. Brittany Coleman is fighting Brookside, Alabama over its abusive fines. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. It is what happened after the stop that is most concerning to him. They often say they had no idea why they were pulled over while passing near Brookside on Interstate 22. If you put anything on Facebook, he retaliated verbally to you, said Brookside resident Tammy Price. I wouldnt be surprised if they opened up an investigation. 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. 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. The tiny town of Brookside, with a population of less than 1,500, became a national news story last week when John Archibald of the Birmingham News reported that its mayor and Police Chief Mike . Brookside Mayor Mike Bryan is a former councilman who took over as acting mayor when McCondichie became ill. Bryan said he knew Jones made Bibles available in the jail, but said he had never heard of anyone being held because they did not accept Jesus. Government websites often end in .gov or .mil. He had past drug and alcohol charges, a DUI and an arrest for public lewdness, according to police records. "Ferguson made us realize it wasn't just Ferguson," said Priya Sarathy Jones, the national campaign director at the Fines and Fees Justice Center,which advocates for fees to be eliminated in the justice system and fines to be equitably enforced. Netta Womack tells her story about Brookside police at a town hall Tuesday February 1, 2022. Officers crammed evidence like those trash bags wherever space could be found, according to a state audit released this month. You may not use this site for the purposes of furnishing consumer reports about search subjects or for any use prohibited by the FCRA. 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 . Which is another problem altogether, Sheriff Pettway said. The courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Such a thing would absolutely be inappropriate, he said. Savelle left soon after, as did more than half the force. Stories of how Alabama legal systems criminalize poverty. It can happen anywhere, and it should not have to happen on this scale -- with college students stranded on the side of the road, and pastors mistreated for driving nice cars, and unlabeled evidence strewn about a police station for reform to happen.. Brookside, Alabama: how cops turned a stretch of highway into a money But Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared after that, and the towns law-enforcement goals and its reputation changed. 2022-08-08; 2022-09-26; 2022-12-12.2. In less than three months Brookside separately pulled over both her and her housemate and impounded both their vehicles. As the department grew, employees say it reflected Jones vision. The Alabama Legislature in the last week of this years session passed a bill sponsored in the Senate by a Republican and in the House by a Democrat that bars municipalities from using fines and traffic fees to supply more than 10 percent of their budgets. 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. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on an official government site. AL House passes bill that makes it illegal to move police jurisdiction I always pray, and this day has come at the right time, Netta Womack said at the town hall. Hall did appeal, and a Jefferson County judge ultimately dismissed the charges. Top editors give you the stories you want . Police take an oath to protect and serve the public. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The man had admitted to the police and to the former mayor that he had dumped trash, though his lawyer argued the confession was coerced and the charges based on dates the police simply guessed about. It showed that total arrests custodial, misdemeanor and felony rose 1,109% from 2018 to 2020. But when she did, the unmarked SUV pulled into the street, crossed the center line and sped toward her car, blue lights flashing. The transformation of Brooksides police department began in 2018, under the direction of long-serving and now late Mayor Roger McCondichie. All rights reserved (About Us). 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. Police Jurisdictions - Alabama Department of Revenue A revenue strategy: tickets, tows and arrests. In a two-year period between 2018 and 2020 Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared more than 640 percent and now make up half the citys total income. Dawson and Danneman suspected what the world would come to know in January, when Brooksides reign would end as suddenly as it started. Brookside Police Department, Jefferson County, Alabama. The Birmingham Times reported that nearly half of Brookside's revenue in 2020 came from forfeitures and fines. Mayor Bryan announced he had pulled police officers from Interstate 22 as the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission and the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts swooped in for audits. In May of 2019, the month Brumlow was stopped, Brookside officers ticketed 75 people for driving in the left lane. Another Brookside cop ran from the rear of the building, where he had positioned himself to prevent her escape. Ramon Perez felt that way as well, sitting in the courtroom and hearing defendants plead to the same charges over and over. Multiple drivers say Jetts Towing Co. showed up on the side of the road at the same time as police stops. He agreed to represent his niece in her traffic case. The courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. The Town of Brookside forced Plaintiffs and the Plaintiff classes to give up their property and pay illegal fines through fear, intimidation, and under color of official right by imposing fines not authorized by law, seizing property without the legal right to do soand by threat of jail time unless illegal fines were paid or property unlawfully forfeited, the suit says. Brookside is just 10 miles north of Birmingham, but in ways it is ages away. But not in the courtroom. Military vehicles used by the Brookside Police Dept. We get calls about Brookside quite regularly because they really go outside their jurisdiction to stop people, Pettway said. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The motive was to generate revenue for Brookside.. But in Brookside, Alabama, a top-down scheme pushed by its police chief, mayor and council has . Silverware, plates and everything like that.. The officers, though many, were not well paid. On the other end was a caller IDd as coming from the Brookside Town Hall, she said. A police report said he drunkenly and aggressively harassed a woman and her companion. County Office is not affiliated with any government agency. II. Theres no way I was going to run that stop sign.. But its a common charge in Brookside. 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. 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. And the only way theyd be able to get out of jail is if they accepted Christ. For most of the past decade it saw little crimeonly 55 . "What if $150 is the cost of choosing between feeding my child, getting their medicine or paying this ticket?" Pettway also said issues with Brookside could draw the attention of the federal government. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) - House Representative Juandalynn Givan is now asking city leaders in Brookside to disband the police department. Tuesday February 1, 2022. Unsure what was happening, Harris dialed 911. A client came to him after she was stopped for driving in the left lane of the interstate, a crime he insists did not exist at the time. McDonald was new to policing, but soon grew disillusioned with Jones demands and what he considered broken promises about pay and benefits. They would not share the footage. He swore hed seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. Months of research and dozens of interviews by AL.com found that Brooksides finances are rocket-fueled by tickets and aggressive policing. At least two others were in arrears on child support, and another had been charged with harassment, though the charges were dropped. The growth has come with trouble to match. The town now faces at least 13 suits or one for every 96 residents. As Brookside's earnings draw further scrutiny, with Givan planning a town hall Tuesday to allow people who say they've been exploited by the police force to come forward, advocacy organizations are emphasizing that it is no outlier and highlights how across the country, traffic fines and related fees are being used to fill municipal coffers at the expense of people who are often financially struggling and from communities of color.
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