Alabama Has A Cop Problem
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 11 months ago
We previously discuss Boss Hogg (head of the Alabama Sheriffs Association) who doesn’t believe in the second amendment, and clearly said so.
Now we come to find out that the Alabama cop problem isn’t just limited to Sheriffs.
Ramon Perez came to court last month ready to fight the tickets he’d been handed by Brookside police, including one for rolling through a stop sign and another for driving 48 mph in a 40 zone.
He swore he’d seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked.
“I saw him and we looked eye to eye,” the Chelsea business owner said. “There’s no way I was going to run that stop sign.”
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. He saw so many people trying to park in the grassy field outside the municipal building that police had to direct traffic.
He figured there was no point.
“I saw the same attitude in every officer and every person,” he said. “That’s why I hesitated to fight it. They were doing the same thing to every person that was there. They own the town.”
Perez, it appears, was right.
Months of research and dozens of interviews by AL.com found that Brookside’s finances are rocket-fueled by tickets and aggressive policing. In a two-year period between 2018 and 2020 Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared more than 640 percent and now make up half the city’s total income.
And the police chief has called for more.
The town of 1,253 just north of Birmingham reported just 55 serious crimes to the state in the entire eight year period between 2011 and 2018 – none of them homicide or rape. 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.
If the Alabama AG had any balls and wasn’t part of the corruption, he’d be all over this. This is certainly reason enough to have cameras constantly rolling when you’re driving, and especially during interaction with cops.
It’s a shame when it has come to this. City government is corrupt, and cops are their armed agents for collection. But the cops know what they’re doing, and they’re culprits as well. If it weren’t for the fact that they can so easily find evil men to enforce their policies, the city would be powerless.
Hey, how about pastors in Alabama taking on the evils of government in a sermon series? Spineless cowards with no balls, you say? Rather talk about pretty butterflies and love all around?
On January 24, 2022 at 11:29 am, Ruck Norris said:
No comments from the cop suckers here? Not surprised.
On January 24, 2022 at 11:30 am, Herschel Smith said:
” … the cop suckers here”
You’ve got the wrong web site.
On January 24, 2022 at 1:22 pm, Fred said:
Disarm. Defund. Disband.
On January 24, 2022 at 3:18 pm, Clyde said:
Leave the Cops, and pass around the town, a copy of “The Battle of Athens.” That would be Athens TN. Seems the townsfolk figured out how to deal with corruption there.
On January 24, 2022 at 3:20 pm, Clyde said:
^^^^^^
Oops, the book is called: The Fighting Bunch. The story is about the battle of Athens.
On January 24, 2022 at 4:33 pm, Backwoods Engineer said:
“Hey, how about pastors in Alabama taking on the evils of government in a sermon series? Spineless cowards with no balls, you say? Rather talk about pretty butterflies and love all around?”
Not going to happen in most churches. Too much “Thin Blue Line” thinking to realize that every enforcement arm of every tyranny in history started out as “just cops”. In my own church, one man in the leadership always prays for “law enforcement and first responders”. Well, Jesus did direct us to pray for our enemies, but I don’t think he sees it that way.
No, too many church members have already forgotten the Roman Legion, the kings, the SS, the Gestapo, the Stasi, the Zampolits, all the bloody-handed enforcers of the self-appointed ‘almighty’ state, once fed Christians to the lions, to the sword, to the gas chambers, to the firing squad, and under the tank treads.
Our forebears were wiser:
“Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
— St. George Tucker’s comments on Blackstone’s Commentaries
On January 24, 2022 at 4:34 pm, Backwoods Engineer said:
Clyde is exactly right that we Alabamians had better re-learn the lessons of the Battle of Athens TN, or our rights are going to go right down the toilet.
On January 25, 2022 at 11:05 am, Chris said:
And these dumb ass’s wonder why people hate them.
Unreal. Its like a bad movie.
On January 25, 2022 at 12:44 pm, TRX said:
“Speed trap” towns have been around for a long time. Every now and then various state legislatures try passing laws to stop them, but they either ignore or work around the strict letter of the law.
One of my favorite movies is about such a town, “The California Kid” from 1974. For some reason the film was set in 1958, but speed traps were old news even then.
On January 25, 2022 at 6:26 pm, Sisu said:
Nothing unique about Alabama, it is all government; the only question is to what extent ?
Milan, NY – upstate between NYC and Albany funds so much of its budget through tickets for speeding (and plead down – “parking on the side of the highway”) that the Village Judge brags and negotiates his “budget” based on a percentage of his contribution to Village revenues. NYS surcharges every ticket issued in the state; the monies go to patronage, unions, graft, etc.
The “red light” camera programs throughout the country are nothing more than revenue raisers. While I do not advocate (nor practice running red lights) these systems are known to create more accidents from “panic stops” then those caused by running the red.
It’s “government”, petty local politicians grabbing more to share with those who line their pockets.
It is all just evidence of the illegitimacy of “government”. “Government” as the modern day feudal lords who control the “highway men”.
LEOs should refuse to waste their time on such actions which undermine respect for them. If a driver’s actions are egregious enough to warrant a “stop”, then the car should be impounded pending an investigation of gross negligence or such other disregard for others.
On January 25, 2022 at 6:37 pm, Sisu said:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/brookside-police-chief-resigns-amid-personnel-issues-according-to-town/ar-AAT8Mfn
On January 25, 2022 at 6:44 pm, Fred said:
That’s something anyway. Hopefully it won’t be a case of meet the new boss…
On January 26, 2022 at 1:28 pm, Jsf said:
If the sheriff wasn’t fired nothing will change. Meet your new boss, same as the old boss.