Birmingham Police Department

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The Birmingham Police Department is the department responsible for law enforcement, security and crime prevention in the city of Birmingham. The chief of police is Scott Thurmond. The department is headquartered at the Birmingham Police Department Central Headquarters at 1701 1st Avenue North.

History

Founding

When Birmingham's first city government took office in 1871 under Mayor Robert Henley, he appointed a City Marshal, O. D. Williams, to direct the efforts of two patrolmen, Robert Bailey and Henry Clay Atkins. Henley made himself available to assist with patrols if needed before he was forced to resign due to tuberculosis.

The second administration, under James Powell, took office on January 6, 1873 and installed W. G. Oliver as Marshal. He initially commanding a force of three patrolmen, Ed Taylor, Robert Bailey and A. Robinson, but the young department was expanded with ten new recruits over the course of that year. Those included W. L. Cantelou, Jule Wright, James Armstrong, William Harris, J. D. Lykes, M. Hagerty, William Clay, J. L. Ellison, W. W. Coxe and John Coxe. That force held strong for the next year, but was reduced back to five men, headed by E. G. Taylor, during William Morris' second administration in 1876. Under Thomas Jeffers's administration, it was reduced back to three, with Ben Plosser commanding William Seay and John B. Lewis. Plosser was succeeded by L. M. Teal in 1878.

Mayor A. O. Lane elevated the city government beginning in 1882. He brought W. G. Oliver back as Marshal and also appointed John Thompson to serve as Captain of Police, commanding officers G. W. Merritt, J. A. Brock, J. A. Mingea, W. S. Nelson, J. S. Barksdale, C. K. Dickey, G. J. Tomlin and T. P. Hagood. The annual payroll for the department was $540 in 1882. A new set of uniforms was required to be worn while on duty.

In 1884 Frank Gafford and O. A. Pickard succeeded Oliver and Thompson as Marshal and Captain, respectively. Gafford oversaw the organization of the city's first professional Fire Department in 1885. J. H. Mingea, J. G. Smith, William Burwell, J. B. Donelson, H. U. McKinney, T. J. Boggan, A. H. Maynor and James McGee were sworn in as new officers that term. The department's payroll for 1886 had risen to $970.

For Lane's third term, Pickard was elevated to City Marshal. Newly-sworn officers included J. D. Anderson, Charles Martin, J. M. Nix, W. M. Turner, W. J. Carlisle, A. L. Sexton, R. M. Saunders, W. H. Pinkerton, T. Z. Hagood, Richard Smoot Jr, James Turner, B. R. Childers, Thomas Hart, J. S. Oldham, O. M. Hill, R. H. McCullum and James Hillary. The city's expense for the salaries and operation of the department in 1887 reached $12,500.

In 1896 outgoing Mayor James Van Hoose reported significant upgrades to the Gamewell Police Alarm System then in use. Bicycles were acquired for two patrol officers and proved valuable. The department was able to earn enough revenues through the impoundment of stray animals to fund not just of the pound itself, but also the operation of police headquarters.

The first Birmingham Police officers to lose their lives in the line of duty were George Kirkley and J. W. Adams, who were killed in a shootout following the robbery of the Standard Oil offices on March 27, 1900.

Bull Connor

During his terms as Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor assumed direct control over the Police Department and engaged personally in police work, especially with regard to enforcing the city's segregation ordinances. Connor personally interrupted the 1938 Southern Conference for Human Welfare meeting at Municipal Auditorium to separate attendees by race. His seating arrangement was famously defied by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Connor's eager intervention sometimes earned resentment from officials within the department. One particular conflict, with Detective Henry Darnell, was set off in 1951 when Connor's wife Beara witnessed an act which she considered to be brutality. Connor investigated and charged Darnell with conduct unbecoming an officer. That December Connor was found unlawfully occupying a room at the Tutwiler Hotel with his secretary. Connor claimed to have been set up, but his conviction cost him his office for four years. He was re-elected in 1956.

The department's first female officer, former meter maid Betty Jensen, was sworn in in 1959, with Ann Saunders joining a few months later.

After being re-elected, Connor resumed his belligerence and reinforced the department's reputation for protecting violent segregationists while oppressing Black citizens. He is known to have arranged for police to give 15 minutes of free rein to a mob of vigilantes who awaited arrival of the Freedom Rides buses into Birmingham on Mothers' Day 1961. He met another bus two days later and escorted the demonstrators personally to the Tennessee state line. He also oversaw the purchase and use of two armored "riot cars" which the department employed to intimidate residents.

Connor's bigotry and stubbornness came to be seen as an opportunity by leaders of the Civil Rights movement who, as Martin Luther King Jr expressed it, sought to create a "crisis of conscience" at a national level by exposing the violence inherent to segregation. The spectacle of police dogs and fire hoses being unleashed against children at the climax of the Birmingham Campaign did serve to galvanize political support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other major changes. Locally a growing group of young professionals organized a campaign to change Birmingham's form of government specifically as a way of removing Connor from power.

Integration

The department swore in its first African-American officer, Leroy Stover, in 1966. Entering the 1970s, though, as white flight changed the city's demographics from majority white to majority Black, the Birmingham Police Department remained almost entirely white. A pattern of police brutality was taken up as a signature issue for Birmingham City Council hopeful Richard Arrington. The police shooting of Bonita Carter shortly before the 1979 mayoral election drove a wedge between incumbent David Vann, who supported the officer, and Arrington. The issue helped propel Arrington into office as the city's first Black mayor.

Arrington brought in former Brooklyn precinct captain Arthur Deutsch as an outside hire to oversee updates to professional training and operations. The department won its first national accreditation under Deutsch, but the chief's tenure ended bitterly amidst accusations of misconduct and assault.

Recent years

In his 2008 State of the City address Mayor Larry Langford pledged to put 50 additional officers on the streets. He supported pay raises for officers and sought City Council approval for technology purchases; specifically for 3-wheel personal vehicles and for surveillance cameras in high-crime areas.

The January 2008 beating of Anthony Warren while he was unconscious led to the firing of five officers after commanders were notified, and a video of the incident was released to the public more than a year later. Chief A. C. Roper said that the video showed that, "there was a failure in policy, personnel, training, procedures and supervision." Those officers were reinstated with back pay by the Jefferson County Personnel Board in April 2011. The board explained that the city's attorney, Michael Choy, had not offered any evidence supporting the termination of the officers during a day-long hearing. Warren, who was convicted of attempted murder for trying to run over a Hoover Police officer during the same chase, sued the city for $1.4 million and won a $460,000 judgment in 2014.

In 2014 the department replaced its fleet of 2009 Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers with 59 new Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles.

In June 2015 Birmingham police precinct and task force officers began wearing body cameras. The first 319 units were supplied by TASER International, along with 5 terabytes of storage at its Evidence.com website, at a cost of $889,000 over five years. Within two months of the introduction of cameras, there was a 34 percent drop in the number of "use of force" incidents, and a 70 percent drop in the number of citizen complaints regarding the use of force.

On August 7, 2015 Birmingham police detective Johnny Brooks was pistol-whipped by a suspect, Janard Cunningham, who grabbed his gun at a traffic stop. Cell phone video of the aftermath of the beating was shared on social media with a gloating tone. The incident bolstered the perception of fear, mistrust and malevolence between the department and the wider community. In recounting the circumstances to the press, Brooks, who is white, said that he passed up the chance to use force against the suspect who he said was approaching his car in a threatening manner out of an abundance of caution, and cited the national headlines alleging a pervasive pattern of racist policing. "A lot of officers are being too cautious because of what's going on in the media," he told CNN.

Policing became a primary issue across the United States as the list of Black people killed in custody continued to grow and video, shot by bystanders or captured on officers' body-worn cameras, showed clearly that police accounts of their use of force were often deceitful. Nationwide protests following the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York; and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri fueled the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020 set off a major wave of protests during which emerged a goal of "defunding" police, or moving public resources away from armed responses to crime, and toward social and economic crime reduction programs. In Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and Chief Patrick Smith promised to review department policies, specifically with regard to Campaign Zero's "#8CANTWAIT" recommendations for reducing direct harm caused by police. On July 14 Woodfin immediately adopted a ban on chokeholds and a requirement that other officers intervene and report incidents of excessive violence. Other policy changes were recommended for further evaluation by a Birmingham Public Safety Task Force which was created for the purpose. Their recommendations, published in December 2020, included creating a Citizens' Review Board, expanding the role of social workers in domestic violence calls, making police procedures more transparent, and holding quarterly roundtables with advocacy groups.

In March 2022 Department personnel staged an apparent "sick out" in protest of staffing shortages, too-modest pay raises, and diminishment of pension benefits. In May 2024 the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation issued a statement criticizing the department for incorporating Christian prayers during precinct roll-call meetings.

Organization

The department is divided into three major bureaus, each headed by a deputy chief.

Administrative Bureau

The Administrative Bureau handles internal operations and oversees the department's Technology & Research Unit, Crime Analysis, Training Section, Budget Unit, Grants Manager, Inspections Division. The Bureau also oversees the Accreditation Division, with responsibility for personnel, payroll and hiring. From 2019 to 2024 the bureau was led by an Assistant Chief of Police. Darnell Davenport was the first to hold that position, and was succeeded by LaQuaylin Parhm-Mack in 2021. The position was eliminated three years later. Deputy Chief Rodarius Mauldin, formerly Parhm-Mack's executive assistant, assumed management of the Bureau.

The Technology & Research Unit supports the department with evaluation and implementation of improved policing methods and technologies. It serves as a liaison to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information System and the Metro Area Crime Center. In 2021 it began operating the department's own Birmingham Police Real Time Crime Center.

The Training Section oversees the operations of the Birmingham Police Academy, the Birmingham Police Firing Range, the Career Development Unit, and the Birmingham Citizens Police Academy education program.

The Inspections Unit manages all police facilities, equipment, weapons and uniforms, and also managed the department's public information desk and taxi cab licensing.

Investigative Operations Bureau

The Investigative Operations Bureau investigates crimes and prepares cases for prosecution. The division is divided into units specializing in auto theft, burglary, white-collar crime, family services (juvenile misdemeanors, missing persons, animal cruelty and gang activity), robbery, and homicide (homicide, felony assault, attempted murder, police-involved shootings, felony firearms discharge and kidnapping). Detectives also participate in "Project ICE", a multi-departmental task force which investigates federal firearms violations.

The department is the only one in the state to operate its own firearms examiners unit which matches ballistic evidence against a national database of firearms signatures. A "Crime Reduction Team", a task force of specially-picked officers, assists the detectives bureau in tracking fugitives and suppressing crime in especially violent neighborhoods.

In 2018 the robbery and homicide units were combined into a "Robbery/Homicide Division", later renamed the "Crimes against Persons Division", which consists of the Homicide Unit, Felony Assault Unit, Robbery Unit, Crime Reduction Team (CRT), Project ICE, Intelligence Unit, and the Sex Offender Unit. Scott Thurmond was the first commander of that division.

Investigation and prosecution of drug-related offences, prostitution, gambling and pornography involve the Bureau's Vice Narcotics Division, which includes the Technical Surveillance Unit, Highway Interdiction. Vice detectives also investigate business owners applying for licenses to sell liquor or employ pool tables, gaming devices, or dancers. The division also manages the department's Weed & Seed Task Force in collaboration with the Birmingham Office of Peace & Policy to suppress gang activity in neighborhoods through targeted enforcement and community participation.

The "Crimes against Property Division" includes the Auto Theft and Burglary Units. Burglary investigators also investigate arson and serve on the division's pawn shop detail. The Division's Major Fraud unit, which investigates financial crimes including check forgery, credit card fraud, and insurance fraud, also educates the public on defenses against identity theft.

A Special Victims Division of Investigative Operations specializes in juvenile crime and domestic violence. The division coordinates the departments "Project SAFE" and Youth Services programs.

In 2024 Deputy Chief Shelia Frazier-Finney, who had headed the Investigative Operations Bureau, was relieved of her duties. Retired FBI agent Jeffrey Brown took her place.

Patrol Bureau

The Patrol Division, supervised by Deputy Chief Onree Pruitt, oversees regular patrols conducted out of Birmingham's four geographical precincts, plus a special "Tactical Operations Precinct" and a Community Outreach and Public Education division.

Special Operations Bureau

The department's Special Operations Bureau is headed by Deputy Chief Michael Pickett.

Tactical Operations Precinct

BPD SRT K9 patch.jpg

Tactical Operations Precinct. led by Captain Torry Mack, oversees the department's SWAT Team, Motor Scouts, traffic homicide investigations and explosive ordinance disposal (bomb squad).

Personnel assigned to the department's Crime Reduction Team conduct covert investigations, including surveillance, electronic exploitation, and cultivating relationships with of informants.

The Special Response Team Canine (SRT K9) unit has 13 teams of trained police dogs and handlers. The dogs are trained at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Officer's Training Center in Tuscaloosa County. The unit is supervised by Sergeant Heath Boackle. The Birmingham Police Mounted Patrol was part of the tactical division before it was disbanded in 2020.

Community Outreach and Public Education

The Community Outreach and Public Education (COPE) division provides resource officers (SROs) to Birmingham City Schools and crime prevention officers (CPOs) to Neighborhood Associations. The department's Community Engagement Liaisons, Chaplains, and volunteer programs are also organized under the division.

Geographical Precincts

Number of officers

In 2008 the Birmingham Police Department had 789 sworn officers (653 male and 136 female) and 296 civilian staff (75 male and 221 female).

In 2020 the department, which had grown to 912 sworn officers and 325 professional staff, operated on a budget of $92.78 million, or approximately $443 per resident of the city.

In 2021 the department recorded 839 police officers in its annual financial report to bondholders.

In 2022 the department declined to publicize the number of officers on duty, but a statement by the Birmingham Fraternal Order of Police suggested that the department was understaffed by 114 patrol officers, 15 sergeants, 5 lieutenants and 3 captains from what it considered to be the minimum force.

In 2023 the annual financial report indicated that the number of sworn officers had declined to 639, with 177 civilian staff.

The 2024–2025 city budget described the department as staffed with 873 sworn officers and 225 civilian personnel. The line item in support of police services was $115,280,417 (about $586.24 per resident)

In 2024 Birmingham City Council president Darrell O'Quinn stated that the department had budgeted for 720 officers, but still had 296 unfilled positions. In presenting a $15.8 million recruitment and retention plan to the City Council in October of that year, Mayor Randall Woodfin stated that "Ideally, the city would have 851 sworn officers, 440 of whom would be available to work patrol," and that "Currently, there are 377 officers available to patrol...We're only short 63 patrol officers." In a later appearance on WBRC-TV, Woodfin clarified that there were 172 unfilled positions in total. Spokesman Rick Journey referred later to 172 patrol positions to be filled. A day later, the city released a document staying that there were 223 "total vacancies for all sworn personnel", including 17 command officers (sergeants, lieutenants, captains), 172 patrol officers, and 34 officers assigned to administration, operations and investigative bureaus.

Substations

The Department has, at various times, operated from small substations located in areas where an increased police presence was desired. These have included the Studio Arts Building at Five Points South, the Crestwood Festival Center, and the Uptown entertainment district at the BJCC.

Support Services

Until her retirement in September 2010, the deputy chief in charge of support services was Faye Lampkin, who formerly commanded the East Precinct.

Police oversight

Calls for citizen oversight of police misconduct have been raised several times locally as well as nationally.

While serving on the Birmingham City Council in the 1970s, Richard Arrington pushed for a formal investigation of the shooting of an African-American suspect in police custody. The hearing was inconclusive, but opened the door to a more serious look at police procedures. The shooting death of Bonita Carter in 1979 highlighted mayor David Vann's unwillingness to make serious changes, and opened the door for Arrington to become the city's first Black mayor. Among his efforts as mayor, Arrington expanded the role of community resource officers to reach out to neighborhoods, and hired Arthur Deutsch, a veteran of the New York Police Department, to modernize the city's crime-fighting apparatus.

On March 30, 2011 a video recording of an arrest was released which many perceived as documenting excessive force. In April of the same year, John White was shot to death by an officer responding to a domestic disturbance in Bush Hills. Shortly afterward, District 6 representative Carole Smitherman suggested that the Birmingham City Council hold hearings with the goal of establishing a police oversight committee. Activist Frank Matthews and Anthony Johnson of the Birmingham NAACP also called for such a committee. Council president Roderick Royal argued that no steps should be taken without consulting with the department first. Chief A. C. Roper did not support creating an oversight board, but instead favored better public relations efforts from within the department, starting with a commitment to professionalism in every interaction.

In 2016 the Department was awarded a $286,277 grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, authorized by the 2016 Department of Justice Appropriations Act, to support the development of a body-worn camera (BWC) program with a goal "to ensure that each officer treat every individual with respect and dignity throughout the interaction." (link)

Nationwide protests following the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York; and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri fueled the emergence of a Black Lives Matter movement. The murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020 set off a major wave of protests and a growing call for "defunding" police, or moving public resources away from armed responses to crime, and toward social and economic crime reduction programs.

In Birmingham, mayor Woodfin and chief Patrick Smith promised to review department policies, specifically with regard to Campaign Zero's "#8CANTWAIT" recommendations for reducing direct harm caused by police. On July 14 Woodfin immediately adopted a ban on chokeholds and a requirement that other officers intervene and report incidents of excessive violence. Other policy changes were recommended for further evaluation by a Birmingham Public Safety Task Force which was created for the purpose. Their recommendations, published in December 2020, included creating a Citizens' Review Board, expanding the role of social workers in domestic violence calls, making police procedures more transparent, and holding quarterly roundtables with advocacy groups.

A Birmingham Civilian Review Board was created by Mayor Randall Woodfin in coordination with the Birmingham Office of Peace & Policy in April 2021. The board was granted the authority to investigate complaints of misconduct by the department. It was thought to be the first such board to be established in any Alabama city.

By April 2022, however, that board had held no public hearings and issued no findings. In September 2023 Woodfin created a new Birmingham Public Safety Advisory Committee to advise the mayor on matters related to the department.

See also

References

  • Dubose, John Witherspoon (1887) Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama: Historical and Biographical Birmingham: Teeple & Smith, Publishers; Caldwell Printing Works.
  • "Police Department" (December 3, 1896) The Birmingham News, p. 5
  • Robinson, Carol (September 8, 2007) "Local firearms unit proves its mettle in solving gun crimes." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (February 9, 2008) "Police Chief Roper names top commanders, unveils plan for improving the Birmingham department." The Birmingham News
  • Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center Crime in Alabama 2008
  • Robinson, Carol (May 14, 2009) "Birmingham special police unit stalks criminals, trouble spots." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (May 20, 2009) "Birmingham police beating video: Five officers fired." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (April 13, 2011) "Jefferson County Personnel Board reinstates Birmingham police officers fired after release of videotaped chase, beating." The Birmingham News
  • Bryant, Joseph (May 25, 2011) "Birmingham leaders scrutinize Police Department, consider review board." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (August 8, 2015) "Man charged in Birmingham detective's beating; outrage follows support of attack on social media." The Birmingham News
  • Valencia, Nick (August 14, 2015) "Pistol-whipped detective says he didn't shoot attacker because of headlines" CNN.com
  • Robinson, Carol (September 14, 2015) "Birmingham police body cameras bring drop in use of force, citizen complaints." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (June 10, 2019) "Veteran lawmen named new commanders at 3 of Birmingham’s police precincts." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (September 6, 2019) "Beat by beat, street by street, Birmingham police use algorithms to fight crime in age of analytics." The Birmingham News
  • Wright, Barnett (June 10, 2020) "More funding for police department, not less, says Birmingham (Ala.) chief" The Birmingham Times
  • Robinson, Carol (June 10, 2020) "Birmingham police will take look inward, but say their training, tactics already strong." The Birmingham News
  • Sims, Bob (July 14, 2020) "Birmingham mayor bans chokeholds, gives initial results of police review." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (December 10, 2020) "Randall Woodfin: No defunding Birmingham police but more accountability, training coming." The Birmingham News
  • Jett, Brandon T. (2021) Race, Crime and Policing in the Jim Crow South: African Americans and Law Enforcement in Birmingham, Memphis, and New Orleans 1920–1945. Louisiana State University Press ISBN 9780807175071
  • Robinson, Carol (October 27, 2021) "Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith reappointed city’s top cop; new assistant chief named." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (February 2, 2022) "Birmingham’s new acting police chief: ‘I’m not in this for me...It’s about the people I serve’." The Birmingham News
  • Robinson, Carol (March 25, 2022) "After Birmingham cops stage ‘sick out,’ mayor pledges cost of living raise; officers say it’s ‘a slap in the face’." The Birmingham News
  • Bryant, Joseph D. (May 16, 2024) "Birmingham police down nearly 300 officers as violent crime surges: What is being done?" AL.com
  • Robinson, Carol (June 24, 2024) "Woodfin makes major changes to Birmingham police command staff." AL.com
  • Garrison, Greg (October 2, 2024) "Woodfin unveils $15.8 million plan to solve Birmingham police staffing shortage: ‘We need to be more aggressive’." AL.com
  • Garrison, Greg (October 3, 2024) "‘Boots on the ground always works’: Birmingham FOP responds to mayor’s $15.8 million plan to recruit, retain police." AL.com
  • Robinson, Carol (October 11, 2024) "Birmingham’s new deputy chiefs face police staffing shortage, mass shooting investigation: ‘You have a tall task’." AL.com
  • Whitmire, Kyle (October 16, 2024) "While murders spiked, Birmingham lost nearly a quarter of its police force." AL.com

External links