Why Alabama state authorities may not want to appoint local police chiefs

I can’t believe the Alabama legislature cares about public safety in our cities.

No, crime is not worse than ever. It is far from its peak in 1980. And the COVID-induced spike in violent crime in 2020 and 2021 appears to be easing.

But that doesn’t mean everything is fine. Birmingham reported a 15% increase in the murder rate through July 1 compared to the previous year. In Montgomery, violence increased in June.

And individual legislators are trying to address this problem.

But overall, I don’t expect Alabama lawmakers to protect us from guns. Not when most of them are working to remove all barriers to gun ownership.

For this reason, I am skeptical about your sudden interest in the work of local police departments.

Bill SB 3, introduced by Senator Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) for the 2025 legislative session, would give the governor or attorney general the authority to appoint a police chief “with oversight of any municipal police department.”

The law makes this pretty easy. To nominate their own candidate, Alabama’s chief executive and its top law enforcement official would have to talk to each other and look at crime statistics. They would also have to talk to a local district attorney, a local sheriff and local crime victims.

The governor and attorney general would also have to “confirm” that police forces are 30 percent smaller than the average over the last ten years.

That seems like a tall order until you look at the staffing situation at some police departments. As al.com reported in May, Birmingham had about 296 vacancies (out of 720 in the budget). The Montgomery Advertiser has noted that other police departments are struggling to recruit. Some blame low morale. Others point out that there are better-paying and less dangerous jobs available.

In any case, the law would make it easy for the governor or the attorney general to appoint chiefs whether the local population agrees or not. In fact, they could appoint their own chief even if the crime rate improves: the law only requires our leaders to look at the numbers, not to determine what they mean.

The parachute chief would stay as long as the state deems necessary. He or she would work without being accountable to a mayor or city council. But local officials would still have to maintain funding for a department that is not accountable to them.

And who decides whether the funding is sufficient? Of course, the Attorney General and the Governor.

Neither the Constitution nor state law prevents the legislature from doing this. The legislature has broad powers in Alabama cities.

When Birmingham introduced a minimum wage in 2016, the state parliament immediately blocked a decision by local elected officials. And they got their way.

If Goat Hill wants to allow the governor and attorney general to take over the running of your local police department, they will.

But I wonder if the legislators have thought about this.

It’s obvious what they want from this law. An attorney general or governor would invade a city, berate local officials, introduce their preferred boss, and chant crackdown mantras on the 5 p.m. news.

They would have a close ally in the police department. They would have the final say on police budgets. And they could rule over the mayor and the city council.

Then they get back into a black SUV for the drive home, assuming that their duties are over with sticking out their chests.

In fact, the governor and the attorney general are responsible for this crime rate.

Because now they are responsible for staffing the police department. Now they are the ones who have to take action against lawbreaking in this city.

If crime goes up, the mayor and city council can blame Montgomery’s interference for the problem. After all, they have accepted responsibility for it.

And then our leaders – assuming they act in good faith – would have to deal with systemic problems.

You can praise the work of law enforcement all you want, but when safer and better-paying alternatives are available, it becomes difficult to hire police officers. (The Alabama Department of Corrections could offer advice on this.)

If they are serious about combating gun violence, they must confront their decades of sycophancy toward the National Rifle Association. In our Republican-dominated government, that would be like playing Russian roulette.

The governor and attorney general can bluster and blame local authorities for these problems until Fox News comes calling, but the fact is that crime is now their problem. And a line of attack in a primary election.

And suddenly a state government that has never taken urban security seriously is faced with many problems of its own making.

Do you want that?

I’m skeptical. It’s one thing to show with a gesture that you care about others, but it’s much more difficult to do the work to prove it.

And for most lawmakers, it’s easier to view Alabama’s cities as targets rather than communities that deserve serious attention.

Brian Lyman is the editor of the Alabama Reflector. He has covered Alabama politics since 2006 and has worked for the Montgomery Advertiser, the Press-Register and the Anniston Star. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Alabama Press Association and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. He lives in Auburn with his wife, Julie, and their three children..

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