The ABC3340 News I-Team first exposed . Time after time they say they were pulled over by multiple officers in multiple vehicles for minor charges such as expired tag or following too closely, that they were searched, towed, and forced to pay large fines for violations many say they did not commit. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and GOP Lt. Gov. By Josh Gauntt. An investigator with the AG responded to her, and she spelled it out again in 2020. He said hed like to see even more growth in revenue from fines and forfeitures. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. 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. Notably, he asked for dismissal of charges against the man who was arrested for dumping trash along Brookside-Coalburg Road. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. And hes like, We cant tell you unless you give me your phone number. I said I dont wanna give you my phone number. And he said, Well, Im not gonna tell you unless you give it to me.. reported to the state very little serious crime one robbery and no murders. Yet that is hard to swallow for those who line up for court and face financial ruin because of citations. It went from towing 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020 each carrying fines. At a March 7 town council meeting Mayor Bryan stood in the spot where Wooten sat on court days, in the reflection of the Ten Commandments. I dont condone it, but you know, Im not the chief out there.. She said one officer told her Well, we didnt say it wasnt working. Hudgens oversaw inmates in the two little town hall rooms adapted as jail cells. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. The complaint alleges numerous constitutional violations, and we believe the citizens need to be protected from illegal actions by the Town of Brookside.. From 2018 to 2020, spending on police rose from $79,000 to $524,000, a 560% increase. It wiped out half her income. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. She wondered if her family was OK as she walked past coworkers and customers. She turned on her lights, according to her lawsuit, because of the approaching darkness. The AGs office this week would not confirm or deny to AL.com the existence of any case involving Brookside. Baggett took Ubers and Lyfts to the Avondale area of Birmingham to work, at $35 a pop, plus tip. Do you understand what you are charged with? the judge asked on that first Thursday in December. Im like, what have I done? she recalled in March. In his call to Jones this week, the investigator said he could not tell me anything because of the ongoing investigation, Jones said. She was ticketed for improper tag light and driving while suspended, and her vehicle was towed. But Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared after that, and the towns law-enforcement goals and its reputation changed. CNN . Jones testified his officers wear gray uniforms with no Brookside insignias. You know, weve had a lot of issues with Brookside.. If you put anything on Facebook, he retaliated verbally to you, said Brookside resident Tammy Price. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. The town began to tow huge numbers of cars, and reap huge rewards. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. she said. No one can objectively look at this and conclude this is good government that is keeping us safer.. 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. He described how Jones hoped to turn the neighboring community center one of the few amenities for the townspeople into a police building and jail. What I noticed the pattern to be among us is this: If you are in the car by yourself, youre gonna get a ticket, she said. Stephanie Franklin, a Jefferson County employee, told AL.com she was a passenger in a car stopped last year for an expired tag. The complaint seeks to establish four classes of people who were stopped and extorted by the town of Brookside, Jetts Towing Co. or the officers. Even the claims of retaliation for social media posts are not unusual in Brookside. The arresting officers were gone. Dawson and Danneman suspected what the world would come to know in January, when Brooksides reign would end as suddenly as it started. Shes in my sight.. It puts all cities, towns, and crossroads on full notice that such behavior is unacceptable. They were there for a good while, Hudgens said. The town collected surplus valued at $760,846, more than accepted by Birmingham or Montgomery, and among the highest totals in Alabama. Brookside cops were on a high-priority case in 2019. The town of Brookside, Alabama holds municipal court once a month. Most of the time people get stopped, theyre going to get a ticket. He reported that his Police Chief was mad.. held the first town hall, in which 200 people gathered, 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. We were working under a man who used fear as a tactic to make us do what he wanted us to do, said Brandon McDonald, the first dispatcher hired after Jones arrived. Thats why I hesitated to fight it. state-disbursed federal grant money to lure new hires with thousands of hours of overtime, told AL.com when first asked about aggressive policing, Jim Wooten, announced he would step aside and recuse himself, a Feb. 1 town hall meeting near Brookside, federal anti-corruption RICO statutes and the Hobbs Act, that bars municipalities from using fines and traffic fees to supply more than 10 percent of their budgets, Danny Carr asked judges to drop 69 felony drug, Circuit Judge Shanta Craig Owens threw out another 41 cases, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. (Ramsey Archibald and Joe Songer). Although the town has no towing contract, it had a no-bid relationship with Jetts, a state audit described. Police take an oath to protect and serve the public. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. 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. A third calls for guidelines on how cities and towns handle municipal courts. 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. 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.. That audit report, released last week, has said such an arrangement is illegal. But Jones wanted his force to show force. 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. Will Ainsworth, have said Brookside and towns that use overly aggressive policing to fill their coffers must change. Her boss paid her fine. He was charged with 31 counts of criminal littering, and town Judge Wooten had fined him $14,268. "This city is a ticking, ticking time bomb waiting to explode," state Rep. Juandalynn Givan, who has called for other town officials to resign, told the NBC affiliate WVTM in Birmingham. The lowest-paid officers made $12 an hour. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to let a class-action lawsuit go forward against an Alabama town accused of policing for profit with excessive fines and aggressive enforcement of local laws.Video above: Federal class action lawsuit filed against Town of Brookside, police officers The U.S. attorney's office this week filed a statement of interest in the civil lawsuit against . By Tristan Ruppert. (WBRC) The city now announcing several steps to reform the police department. Which is another problem altogether, Sheriff Pettway said. A year in Brookside is a pretty long time. They seek damages against the individual police officers for wrongful fines, forfeitures, and arrests, including mental anguish damages., In trying to establish a conspiracy, the complaint contends that the town of Brookside, its court and its officers, exist to extract the payment of unlawful fines from the people.. 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 much revenue from traffic fines and forfeitures in 2020, it amounted to almost half of its $1.2 million municipal budget. "Their whole financial existence starts to spiral, and it was all over a light on their car not working.". "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. She insists like many others stopped by Brookside police that she did not run the stop sign at all. It was more than the car was worth in fines, she said. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. In 2020 they came to $610,000. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. Savelle was not the only Brookside officer with past issues. 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. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Her Odyssey, and all the items in it, were auctioned off, she said. The Birmingham Times reported that nearly half of Brookside's revenue in 2020 came from forfeitures and fines. But he also worries for relatives and employees who live in Brookside. He expected officers to stay busy, and they were. What I had watched in court with the use of this particular charge, I mean, just to be quite frank, it offended me that a court would act that way and that a city would act that way toward people who really dont have that kind of money, he testified. The accounts told to AL.com detail harassment and intimidation. They told me they dont give blankets, she said. He posted his displeasure on Facebook, he said, and then a police officer stopped him, blue lights flashing. I always pray, and this day has come at the right time, Netta Womack said at the town hall. The city is facing at least five federal lawsuits related to its policing. McDonald recalled the way Jones ordered staffers not to adjust the temperature in the towns jail cells, so it would remain cold all the time. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. They were doing the same thing to every person that was there. Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. The news outlet found that Jones positioned officers to stop motorists so aggressively that income from traffic fines and forfeitures rose 640 percent from 2018 to 2020, from about $82,000 to more than $610,000. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. A small jar that once may have held marijuana, And a small tray that might have been used to roll a joint, reported just 55 serious crimes to the state in the entire eight year period between 2011 and 2018, 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 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. They gave me a ticket for running a stop sign. But when she did, the unmarked SUV pulled into the street, crossed the center line and sped toward her car, blue lights flashing. A department of nine officers in a 1,253-person town is far larger than average. Brookside is the "the wild, Wild West," one state lawmaker said after its income from traffic fines and forfeitures reportedly rose 640 percent in 2 years. For context, Birmingham city would have to more than triple the size of its force to equal a ratio of that in Brookside. 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.. He said he also represented a woman who was stopped in 2019 for driving in the left lane of I-22, which was not technically a crime, and accused police of using a "false left-lane violation" to ensnare motorists. 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. Hall did appeal, and a Jefferson County judge ultimately dismissed the charges. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham has demanded the resignations of Bryan, Brookside City Attorney Mark Parnell and Municipal Judge Jim Wooten. She was taken to jail and told she couldnt leave without a $500 cash bond and $206 she still owed on the original offense. She refused. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). The primary coordinates for Brookside Police Department places it within the AL 35214 ZIP Code delivery area.. Maps, Driving Directions & Local Area Information 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. This month the town judge, Jim Wooten, announced he would step aside and recuse himself from all pending cases. If he saw you and he was riding down the street, he would embarrass you in your front yard., She said she once questioned Jones methods in a public meeting, and he pulled up outside her house a little later. He agreed to represent his niece in her traffic case. 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. Will Ainsworth requested a state audit, and amid calls for state and federal investigations. He stated that I issued threats, incited a riot, and slandered the Brookside Police Department in my Facebook posts. Michelle Jones said she has had friends, acquaintances and family members stopped in Brookside. At least eight officers, including Jones, have resigned or been let go since. The officer had identified himself only by an agent number. They would not share the footage. Thats my (late) husbands boat, she said. It was nearing dusk, and as she drove into the neighborhood she didnt think much about the unmarked black SUV with tinted windows on the side of the road. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. I could take over the whole county with numbers like that, he joked. "Brookside is a continuation of that story almost 10 years later. Ive always been suspicious of small town courts, and Ive seen a lot of abuses from them, he said. This windfall did not happen by accident but is the result of a systematic effort by Brookside's police department to prioritize ticket collection over the administration of justice. Brookside Police Department, Jefferson County, Alabama. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. An official website of the Alabama State government. He said police accused him of running a stop sign that I never did run, and he complained about it on Facebook. 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 . People who were detained by Brookside officers beyond a traffic stop. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. He complained when frozen food for jail inmates was improperly stored for long periods in refrigerators because there was no freezer. 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 jurisdiction along Interstate 22, a corridor between Birmingham and Memphis, Tennessee. In 2018 total revenue for the town of Brookside was $586,000. Others werent so fortunate. The town also provided a set of police stats Jones presented to the Brookside council to push for more resources and authority. Top editors give you the stories you want . 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. Brookside is just 10 miles north of Birmingham, but in ways it is ages away. Fines and forfeitures seizures of cars during traffic stops, among other things doubled from 2018 to 2019. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. And the town bought in. Not for speeding, or running a stop sign, or any violation. And the police chief has called for more. The Brookside police staff, based on this data, came to one officer for every 84 residents in January. Alabama state rep. calls for Brookside mayor's resignation amid ticketing scandal, told the NBC affiliate WVTM in Birmingham, wake of the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, Attorney describes 'debtors' prison' scheme targeting poor minorities. Then this month the Brookside department posted on Facebook that it had hired six more officers in an effort to expand our dedication and commitment to provide superior community service & protection.. Hodges said she asked Jones at the time why police didnt just call her and tell her to come in. This Court has jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. 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. The town's latest release came out early February 1st. Informacin detallada del sitio web y la empresa: travelingcaddy.com, +18445334653 Golf club rentals - phoenix / scottsdale, arizona | traveling caddy , threats, embarrassing social media posts and even blue-light traffic stops. Officers, dressed completely in dark, unmarked uniforms approached her, and one accused her of flickering her lights to warn others of their presence, her suit alleges. That's a 1,478% increase, with 1.7 tows for every household in town. She had no preparations for such an invasive procedure. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr asked judges to drop 69 felony drug charges that originated in Brookside, along with 22 associated misdemeanors, saying he did not want to be associated with a rogue police force.. He told me it would be in my best interest if I just shut the F up, she said. Published: Mar. story of how the tiny town turned to aggressive ticketing to build a ballooning police force that came to provide half the towns revenue. She spelled it out in her complaint to the AGs office and in notes to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department, county commissioners and others. 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 . And I didnt realize that until some time had passed.. We dont care about tickets, Jones said. Bill Dawson, a lawyer in Birmingham, said he's had about two dozen people contact him with allegations, but for years, many have been too reluctant to complain. The examiners sharp report was released this month, outlining missing guns, poor financial practices and shoddy storage of evidence, including an unmarked trash bag filled with prescription medicines that did not seem to be associated with any particular case. It resulted in Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones resigning Tuesday on the same day Alabama Lt. Gov. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. Lots of them. He was cited for driving with a suspended license a matter he thought hed cleared up but he doesnt blame Brookside for that. People who had their vehicles towed and impounded by Jetts Towing after a traffic stop. She remembered being pulled over five years before. When youre naive and you work with police, you assume theyre gonna do the right thing, he said. 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. Brookside Mayor Mike Bryan said in a statement, We cannot comment on the lawsuits filed Monday. Hed been stopped for rolling the stop sign, which he disputes, and speeding, which he also disputes. Jones made his own rules, based on his own sense of morality, Hudgens said. The Town of Brookside released this statement: To investigate and address the issues raised by the recent news accounts of our Police Department, on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, the Town of Brookside requested the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission (APOSTC) perform a compliance audit of the Brookside Police Department . If you had more officers and more productivity youd have more, Jones said. Government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Find Honea Path residential property records including property owners, sales & transfer history, deeds & titles, property taxes, valuations, land, zoning records & more. Brookside is one tiny place that caught the brief attention of the nation and could help people understand the dangers of using law enforcement to fund governments, she said.