All Rights Reserved. He said response times were long because Brookside often had to rely on the Jefferson County Sheriffs department for service. Its unheard of.. The problem for those alleging misconduct is that officers may be immune from lawsuits if their actions are found to be a part of their official duties, Dawson said. And its not an idle threat. 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. Pettway also said issues with Brookside could draw the attention of the federal government. I saw him and we looked eye to eye, the Chelsea business owner said. It went from towing 50 vehicles in 2018 to 789 in 2020 each carrying fines. He was released after posting $20,000 bail. He feels the police saw him as prey, and treated him as such. Jones resigned January 25th, six days after AL.com published a story outlining Brookside policing and a court system that collected 49 percent of the towns 2020 revenue from fines and forfeitures, a practice lambasted by residents, drivers, top law enforcement officials and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. People stand in line, waiting to get into the courtroom. Perform a free Brookside, AL public property records search, including property appraisals, unclaimed property, ownership searches, lookups, tax records, titles, deeds, and liens. 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. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. When he got to court Dec. 2, he saw scores of people just like him lining up to stand before Judge Jim Wooten, complaining of penny-ante crimes and harassment by officers. 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. Will Ainsworth requested a state audit, and amid calls for state and federal investigations. Mike Jones, former police chief in the troubled Alabama town of Brookside, was arrested today on felony charges of impersonating a peace officer during a traffic stop in south Alabama. in the wake of news coverage about the arrest. Michelle Jones made an official complaint to the Alabama Attorneys Generals office three years ago, arguing that Brookside police stopped her out of jurisdiction, issued a bogus citation and threatened her with more charges after she criticized them on Facebook. I know that.. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Seven Brookside police officers have resigned since January Published: Feb. 09, 2022, 10:00 a.m. Netta Womack tells her story about Brookside police at a town hall Tuesday February 1, 2022.. The town of Brookside, Alabama holds municipal court once a month. In fact the woman her name is redacted in the report told police she turned around and hit him after Savelle snuck up behind her and grabbed her buttocks.. I saw the same attitude in every officer and every person, he said. Ive seen it, DA Carr said. Do you understand what you are charged with? the judge asked on that first Thursday in December. He was drunk and disorderly and harassed a married couple, according to a Hoover offense report. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. I dont condone it, but you know, Im not the chief out there.. If we have to come get ya, well make you famous!, When you look at their Facebook pages its almost like they are bullies. He said people have stories about their cars getting towed and being left on the side of the road, then being charged by both the town and the impound company to get their vehicles back, on top of daily storage fees. It may cost some money to go through that process, he said. Fallout over the Brookside revelations continues. Police advocates, including Alabama Rep. Allen Treadaway, a Republican from Morris who was an assistant police chief at Birmingham and a Fraternal Order of Police leader, said a person with such a past should never have been hired as a police officer at all. Others werent so fortunate. Type: I feel like they cant claim innocence in this situation., They saw dollar signs, she said of the mayors and the council. There are only 1,253 people in Brookside, and one store, the Dollar General. 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. Jones said crime when he took over was higher than it appeared from numbers the town reported to the state. Total town income more than doubled from 2018 to 2020 from $582,000 to more than $1.2 million as fines and forfeitures rose 640%. Brumlows uncle, Jeff Brumlow, is the longtime prosecutor and city attorney for the city of Alabaster, and a GOP candidate for Shelby County district judge. soon after reports of the small towns aggressive policing, AL.com detailed how the department preyed on drivers. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. When the deputy approached the car, he reported that the driver of the vehicle was holding a police badge out of the drivers window, according to the affidavit filed by the county to obtain a warrant for Jones. And 99% of them are lying.. Second, the town would likely benefit from a relationship with a research organization to provide annual information on the existence of any red flags detected in statistical trends and patterns. Brandon McDonald, another former dispatcher the first hired by Brookside after Chief Jones took over in 2018 and created the position said Jones had a long association with Savelle. It parked a riot control vehicle townspeople call it a tank outside the municipal complex and community center. 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. Prosecutor Parnell issued a statement saying he did nothing wrong. AL.com in January reported how Brookside used fines and forfeitures to bring in almost half the town revenue in 2020, and how its police department grew exponentially under Chief Jones. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 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. I cant stand them., In a statement today, Turman said In this case, we had a young deputy that was trying to be respectful to a supposed veteran officer and gave him a break. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The city is facing at least five federal lawsuits related to its policing. Perez is angry at his treatment. Jones lawyer, Bryan, did not return calls today. Brookside, Alabama - a poor town, 70% white, 21% black with a small but growing Hispanic population and a median income "well below the state average" has made national news because of the Brookside Police Department (BPD). However, our analysis did find significant evidence of selective enforcement with respect to warning tickets. 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. Jones could not be reached for comment on this report. At Brookside municipal court, the courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Jones built Brooksides police department from a sleepy, one-man agency to an intimidating force of 14 between 2018 and this year. He resigned Jan. 25, six days after AL.com detailed how the department preyed on drivers, and came to use fines and forfeitures to supply half the tiny towns income. Tiny Brookside's style of policing under Jones has become known nationally in recent weeks. A report quoted in the suit claimed she tighten (sic) arm muscles from getting handcuff (sic).. Brumlow pleaded not guilty, and had to go to court over and over again as the case was postponed. "Their whole financial existence starts to spiral, and it was all over a light on their car not working.". 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. It showed police in 2020 patrolled 114,438 miles in the 6.3-mile town and issued more than 3,000 citations a 692% increase from 2018. He built the department from a one-man operation to a ticket-hungry department with 10 blacked-out vehicles, two drug-sniffing dogs and a riot control vehicle. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. He resigned as chief of the Brookside department last week, days after AL.coms original report on Brookside. Hoover police arrested Savelle for public intoxication and two counts of harassment that night, saying he was intoxicated to the point of being a danger to himself and to others. The woman told police she did wish to press charges. Five others resigned Jan. 28, and Jones second-in-command, former Lt. James Bo Savelle III, resigned Jan. 31, resigned after questions about his past. Thats why I hesitated to fight it. In a two-year period after Jones hiring, income from fines and forfeitures rose more than 600 percent, and that money made up 49 percent of the towns income. He said police accused him of running a stop sign that I never did run, and he complained about it on Facebook. Yet the Brookside stories come at an alarming rate. She pulled to the side of the road as the SUV pulled behind her, and a wrecker simultaneously parked nearby. The Brookside Police Department is located on Municipal Drive, and the Chief of Police is Jason Springfield. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. "Brookside is a continuation of that story almost 10 years later. (Joe Songer for AL.com).Joe Songer. Brookside until recently was known for its quirky Russian food festival and the states only onion-domed Russian Orthodox Church. In a sworn deposition in the civil suit Jeff Brumlow said he went to court three times before the case was ultimately dropped, and saw many people hed guess 25 to 30% of all defendants charged with the dubious left lane violation. BROOKSIDE, Ala. (WBRC) -The town of Brookside is facing another lawsuit. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Officers in Brookside have been accused in lawsuits of manufacturing reasons for traffic stops, overcharging and "making up laws," AL.com reported. Fifth, the town needs help in fighting drug trafficking. 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. He built the department from a one-man operation to a ticket-hungry department with 10 blacked-out vehicles, two drug-sniffing dogs and a riot control vehicle. There were two cars and one SUV that surrounded my car and police were everywhere, she wrote. It showed police in 2020 patrolled 114,438 miles in the 6.3-mile town and issued more than 3,000 citations - a 692% increase. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 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.. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. Savelle was second in command at Brookside, which came under fire two weeks ago when an AL.com story revealed a department so intent on ticketing and criminalizing motorists that by 2020 it came to draw half the towns revenue from fines and forfeitures. 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.. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He said hed like to see even more growth in revenue from fines and forfeitures. . In another case, Brookside police last year confiscated a 2014 Honda Civic owned by a man named Sean Wattson, even though Wattson was not driving and was not in the car, according to a lawsuit he filed against the town. Stories from people stopped in the ticket-happy town continue to roll down like an avalanche, since AL.com last week published the story of how the tiny town turned to aggressive ticketing to build a ballooning police force that came to provide half the towns revenue. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). He stated that I issued threats, incited a riot, and slandered the Brookside Police Department in my Facebook posts. Alabama Senate candidate Lisa Ward said ex-Chief Jones tried to intimidate her in a social media message after she shared the AL.com story on Facebook. She had an asthma attack and a panic attack, but when she knocked on the door to alert a guard, a jailer said if she continued to knock she would be charged with attempting to escape. And it broke her heart, it broke my heart.. His car was towed with apologies from the tow-truck driver costing him several hundred dollars. Arrest powers are not confined to city limits or jurisdictional boundaries except within the State of Alabama.. Officer Deshawn Mark Cook, who worked in Brookside as recently as Thursday, was arrested Friday on charges of first degree rape stemming from 2021. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Former Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones, in a photo taken by WAAO News' Blaine Wilson, after turning himself in. But in 2018 it began building a police empire, hiring more and more officers to blanket its six miles of roads and mile-and-a-half jurisdiction on Interstate 22. By 2020 Brookside made more misdemeanor arrests than it has residents. Because I am a police officer.. Bryan served as president pro tem of the council for years, and performed the duties of mayor during the long illness of his predecessor. 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. Over-policing can also create the perception of racial profiling when it appears to target minority citizens. During his time as a council member, Mike Bryan voted for and helped to pass ordinances strengthening the Brookside Police Department in addition to passing city budgets with revenues increasing over 600%, she said. The deputy described a Brookside badge with a chief indicator at the bottom. Bryan did not respond to questions about Savelle, or Jones hiring. Brookside Police did patrol the 1.5-mile stretch of Interstate 22 within their jurisdiction and wrote tickets that brought in $82,467 in fines. Stephanie Franklin, a Jefferson County employee, told AL.com she was a passenger in a car stopped last year for an expired tag. 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. Periodic review of bodycam video can be used to monitor and investigate possible profiling or other alleged misconduct. Dedicated to documenting the apparent corruption of the Town and Police of Brookside, Alabama. Over the last several months, the Brookside Police Department has faced scrutiny over its ticketing practices, as well as alleged corruption. Brookside Police Department of Brookside, AL spotted in the Jefferson County Sheriff Department District at Roberta Road and Cherry Avenue., And in July, Brookside Police Department of Brookside, AL operating outside its city limits. 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