As of late, law enforcement agencies in Alabama's biggest cities have suffered from internal strife in varying degrees.
Those issues have led to increased crime that the leadership within these cities has struggled to address.
With two more legislative sessions remaining in this quadrennium, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show" on Thursday that crime is still on his list of problems to resolve.
"Well, I think one thing, Jeff, we've got to look at, and this is the issues that's going on in our metropolitan areas with crime," Ledbetter explained. "You know, I had some groups that met with me in my office throughout the session. This began early on in the session. And most of them from the Montgomery delegation and the Birmingham delegation had pulled in what used to be the assistant chiefs in Birmingham, as you know, Allen Treadaway, that's in the House now, and Rex Reynolds, what used to be that he was the chief at one time in Huntsville, Alabama, so we pulled him in and Representative [Russell] Bedsole, who still works in Shelby County, to try to figure out what we could do, you know, to try to help with some of these things."
"So, we've come up with three or four issues that we're able to do this year — some of them with opioid money, put money in hospitals at UAB in Montgomery, try to help with those victims and try to have a resolution to those crimes that were committed, where people have to go to the hospital, have people, you know, psychologists talk to them, try to figure out what's going on," he continued. "One of them, certainly, we're interested in seeing it. We've got two pilot pros, conflict resolutions. Both we did that in Birmingham and Montgomery," he continued. "But it's become a pandemic, almost, with the tragedies going on. I read something just this past week, forever. One homicide, there's seven other people who's been shot in the Montgomery area, so I certainly think that's something that's got to be addressed and looked at. It hurts us in recruiting industry. It hurts us in tourism. And I think from our standpoint, we've certainly got to pay attention to that."
The DeKalb County Republican mentioned an effort led by State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road) and State Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) that would use state resources to confront the problems within the City of Montgomery's police department.
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
