MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday mandating that every county and municipal law enforcement agency annually disclose to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) the number of employed sworn officers.
State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D–Birmingham) filed House Bill 287 (HB287) two weeks ago, taking a special interest in her home city of Birmingham. She has not shied away from criticizing Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin for his perceived failures with the police department.
SEE: State Rep. Givan, Birmingham PD warn of police shortage 'timebomb' — 'It's definitely not safe'
Other cities, like Montgomery, have faced similar crime and staffing reporting criticism.
During a press conference last year, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed declined to answer how many officers the city had on staff when asked by 1819 News, saying, "I don't think it's good practice for us to release numbers."
RELATED: Montgomery Mayor Reed inconsistent with answers on police department staffing numbers
Givan presented the bill before the House on Tuesday afternoon. Lawmakers who spoke in favor frequently referenced that Montgomery and Birmingham account for more than 50% of the violent crime in the state. The main pushback came from Democratic lawmakers.
State Rep. Allen Treadaway (R-Morris), who served in the Birmingham Police Department for over 30 years and retired as its assistant chief, spoke in favor of the bill.
"Let me tell you why I think this bill's important," Treadaway said. "About a year ago, the [House] speaker placed a number of us on a committee dealing with violent crime in the state. At that point, I worked with the speaker's office to try to get information from a number of cities, especially the city of Montgomery and the City of Birmingham, which is accounting for nearly half of all the violent crime in the state of Alabama. I got nowhere with them. I sent a letter. I had a letter hand-delivered. I sent emails. And, for some reason, after spending 31 years In that city, always being transparent about law enforcement officers on the street, it seemed to be a big secret."
The bill would require each state, county and municipal law enforcement agency to submit a form to be developed by ALEA, giving an account of every sworn law enforcement officer under its employ. After receiving the report, the Alabama Justice Information Commission will share the information with ALEA and the attorney general's office. ALEA will then publish the results on its website.
Givan previously stated that the bill would also require public crime statistics. However, that provision is not included in the substitute bill.
Any agency that fails to submit an annual report will be subject to a $1,000 fine for every 30 days of noncompliance. If an officer or agent of any agency is found guilty of falsifying or intentionally refusing to file a report, they would be subject to a misdemeanor charge and fine between $100 and $10,000.
Any agency that does not submit the required report will also be unable to participate in any grant program administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
Givan also made several amendments to the bill, clarifying penalties and reporting requirements. One amendment titled the bill the Sergeant Wytasha Carter Truth and Transparency Act, in honor of a Birmingham officer killed in January 2019 when two other officers were seriously wounded.
State Rep. Kenyatté Hassell (D-Montgomery) objected to the bill's public reporting aspect, claiming it was bad practice to give criminals access to information on how many officers are on the street at any given time.
"Let's say we're in the military, and I got 1,000 soldiers; this person's got 3,000 soldiers; why would I give the enemy the number of people I have?" Hassell said. "Giving the public the count of the lack of police officers, if you're making it public, I got a real concern with that."
"The criminal already knows how many officers there are operating," Givan retorted. "They go, they case out the headquarters. They already know. This is the general public. The general public has the right to know that they do not have enough sworn officers in their communities to police. That is one of the reasons you're seeing so much killing taking place."
Not all Democrats spoke against the bill. State Rep. Patrick Sellers (D-Pleasant Grove) took the mic after Hassell, saying the lack of police presence in a community is blatantly apparent.
"The lack of presence shows you the numbers are down," Sellers said. "If you don't see a police officer, if you don't see a patrol car, if you do exhibition driving on public streets and no one comes, it shows the lack of the amount of police officers that municipalities have. Especially when you're in urbanized cities."
The bill ultimately passed with a vote of 86-0 with 14 abstentions. Four of the abstentions came from Republican lawmakers: State Reps. Matthew Hammett (R-Dozier), Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise), Chad Robertson (R-Heflin) and Jeff Sorrells (R-Hartford).
The bill will now go to the Senate for deliberation.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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