There are many stories in small towns. Poor towns, there are many stories.
In the south of the United States, there is a small city with a beautiful sounding name, called Brookside, which means "creekside". Well, according to the investigation, the driver is being sucked into the legal 'black hole'! Listen to me slowly.
01 Alabama, Alabama, right in Alabama
The investigation was disclosed by a newspaper in the southern state of Alabama, which is said to have been funded by a research center at Columbia University.
Screenshot of related reports
After months of research and dozens of interviews AL.com, a small town called Brookside is in a better financial position because of fines and draconian policing. In the two years between 2018 and 2020, Brookside's income from fines and forfeitures soared by more than 640 percent and now accounts for half of the city's total revenue.
The red column represents the proportion of forfeiture income
However, it seems that it is not enough! The local sheriff called for more measures.
02 What happened to the town?
The small town, located in northern Birmingham with a population of 1,253 people, reported only 55 serious crimes to the state in the eight years from 2011 to 2018, none of which were murder or rape. But in 2018, it began building a 'police empire' that hired more and more police officers, covering the 6 miles of roads and 1.5 miles of jurisdiction on Interstate 22.
By 2020, Brookside will be arrested for misdemeanors more than the number of local residents. The number of vehicles being towed away increased from 50 in 2018 to 789 in 2020, an increase of 1478%. The average number of times each household in the city was dragged away was 1.7 times.
And with that, the trouble grew. Police officers in the town were accused of fabricating allegations, using racist language and "making up laws" to count pedestrians. Defendants must pay thousands of dollars in fines and fees — or pay expensive appeals to state courts — while poorer residents or passers-by are trapped in debt patterns that cannot be easily escaped.
Carla Crowder, director of the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to justice and equity, said, "Brookside is a prime example of policing for profit. We're not safer because of that. ”
Brookside currently faces at least five lawsuits. Advocates of judicial reform, police officers in other jurisdictions, and even Jefferson County's top law enforcement officials have begun to question the town's strategy and the need to expand the police force.
Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr said of the driver being embroiled in a financial dispute: "My understanding is that a man might go there, and I mean, he could fall into a black hole." You know, we have a lot of problems with Brookside. ”
Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettwick said the same thing. "We get calls a lot about Brookside because they're really out of their jurisdiction to stop people [in cars]," he said. Most of the time, people are stopped and they get a ticket. They said they weren't near Brookside at all. ”
Between 2018 and 2020, the number of police interceptions increased significantly. From 2018 to 2019, fines and forfeitures — vehicles confiscated during traffic interceptions, etc. — doubled. In 2020, that number reached $610,000. That's 49 percent of the town's soaring revenue.
"It's so shocking," Claude said, "that no one can look at this objectively and conclude that this is a good government that makes us safer." ”
Considering that people overwhelmed by debt can go down the path of crime in order to pay fines, Claude said: "There is reason to think that this kind of policing leads to crime." ”
03 The Driving Force Behind: Expand the police force by 10 times!
Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones is behind this change. He has expanded the size of the police station by at least ten times, and he called policing in the small town "a positive story." Former City Councilman Mike Bryan, who took over as mayor after his former mayor died last year, agreed.
Jones said his crime rate after taking office was higher than the numbers the town reported to the state. Response times are long, he said, because Brookside often has to rely on the services of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
By 2020, police officers in the sleepy little town are being trained by SWAT and wearing riot gear, even though the city still has only one volunteer fire department. It parked a riot truck — what people in the town call a "tank" — outside the municipal building and community center. Traffic tickets, as well as criminal penalties for passers-by, became the city's dominant industry.
Equipped with vandal-proof vehicles
In 2020, however, in this small town without traffic lights, every man, woman and child was fined and confiscated $487, although many of those fined simply passed through I-22.
From 2018 to 2020, the town's total income more than doubled, from $582,000 to more than $1.2 million, and the amount of fines and forfeitures increased by 640%.
2020 revenue breakdown of the small city: red is the confiscation income (49%)
He said he would like to see more revenue growth from fines and forfeitures.
"I've seen 600 per cent growth – it's a failure. If you have more officers and more productivity, you're going to have more," Jones said, "and I think there could be more." ”
It's jaw-dropping!!! This is definitely not the America we are familiar with! And it's a grassroots government!
In an affidavit of a lawsuit against him and the city, Jones said he was the only full-time police officer when he was appointed sheriff in 2018.
In a testimony, he said that by last summer, eight more full-time officers and several part-time officers had been hired.
When asked how many police officers were at work last December, he declined to answer on the grounds of "safety." This is against the rules! According to the regulations, the size of the police is required to be reported to the government on a regular basis to let the public know.
In a small town of 1,253 people, a police department with just 9 officers is well above average. A study of federal statistics by Governing Magazine showed that on average, there is one police officer for every 588 residents nationwide.
Last year, according to Jones' testimony, there was at least one police officer for every 144 residents in the small city.
Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway was a little stunned when he saw this percentage of Brookside. He joked: "With numbers like that, I can take over the whole county." ”
This month, Brookside Police Department tweeted on Facebook that it hired six more officers "in an effort to expand our dedication and commitment to providing quality community service and protection." ”
04 One word: poor!
The report said that there was only one shop in the small town!!!!
Until recently, Brookside was known for its quirky Russian food festival and the state's only onion-domed Russian Orthodox Church.
It used to be a mining town with a population similar to that of a decade ago. Fewer than 100 residents have graduated from college.
Brookside is a poor small town with 70 percent whites and 21 percent blacks, a small But growing Hispanic population and a median income well below the state average.
The town survived on taxes from the Dollar General. Located on the edge of Birmingham, Dollar General is the town's business district.
05 Corruption: Real Corruption!
Black is black! The world is as black as a crow!!!
Jones and Brian say neither the town nor the police department relies on officers to 'generate income'. In fact, they said in November that they didn't know how the money was used.
Philip Morgan, which has audited the town's financial expenditures for at least five consecutive years, noted that the town had a drawback of not adopting a budget or policy every year. However, the audit showed how much the small town relied on fines.
As more fines brought in more money, the small town began to spend more money. From 2018 to 2020, spending on police officers rose from $79,000 to $524,000, an increase of 560%. Administrative spending increased by 40% and total spending increased by 112%, from $553,000 in 2018 to $1.2 million in 2020.
Last December, the mayor provided a budget document to the AL.com based on audit results from previous years. It made no mention of funding expenditures on the part of the police.
Asked why this was the case, Brian replied that it was a mistake and that the title "Municipal Court Fund" was actually the budget of the police department. The mayor wrote: "Sorry, typing wrong. ”
This mayor? How can this be? Deliberately, right?
According to the document, the budget given to the police this year is $646,620.
The town also provided a set of police statistics that Jones submitted to the Brookside Municipal Council to fight for more resources and power.
The report shows that from 2018 to 2020, the total number of arrests – detention, misdemeanors and felonies – rose by 1109%. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests per household in 2020.
The report shows that in 2020, police patrolled the 6.3-mile town for 114438 miles and issued more than 3,000 tickets, a 692 percent increase over 2018.
"We don't care about tickets," Jones said, "we don't like tickets." ”
This sheriff? Much worse than Sheriff Black Cat, right?
06 Police dogs are cool! And much more!
Brookside Police have two anti-drug dogs, one of whom is called "K9 Cash", who is responsible for searching the driver's car that was stopped. That's a cash cow! Really, dog fighting!
K9 Cash
And the cats! Most of the cars driven by Brookside Police Department are unmarked and colored.
Jones testified after taking the oath that only one of the 10 cars at Brookside Police Department was painted with a police badge, but the other 9 cars had no badge and 7 were covered in color, so there was no way to see what was inside the car. Jones testified that his officers wore gray uniforms and did not have the badge of the Brookside Police Department.
epilogue
This investigative report really shocked me! The shock is the highlight mark in the above article. After you read it, what do you think? (End)