MONTGOMERY — Legislators will likely consider increasing funding and expanding a newly formed Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit in Montgomery to combat criminal activity in other Alabama cities.
The unit is currently made up of officers from the city of Montgomery, Montgomery County and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). The task force started on June 24, 2024, and involves collaborative efforts from multiple state and local law enforcement agencies to crack down on crime.
"If you look at what they've done in Montgomery, it's nothing but astonishing. They put the task force together with state troopers, the county, and the city," House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) told Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce members on Thursday. "It's worked so well in Montgomery. They've had almost 1,900 stops. Out of those stops, they've found over 35 stolen cars. They've got over between four hundred and five hundred drug charges. The people that have had felonies that they found just making those stops, I forgot the numbers but it's huge. It's made a difference. The last three months I think you've seen Montgomery as a different town. It's a combination of everybody working together."
He continued, "That task force has done such a good job, I think we're going to make it permanent."
"Not only will it be permanent here, we can use it in Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville, wherever. We'll have a group of ALEA officers that that's their job. We'll give support to these cities and counties," Ledbetter added.
Other crime-related legislation to be considered in the 2025 session will include a Glock switch ban.
"The main things we've got going on right now in the crime package is the Glock switch bill. We're looking at the mental health component as it relates to mental health in the jails, we're looking at some of that and at the statewide level. The other things that we're still putting together, which will be (discussed in) our meetings over the next couple of weeks, are pieces of legislation that we'll look at. One of the things that's possible is for some funding to go towards the task forces that recently were had in Montgomery County and are being considered in Jefferson County," former Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack, now executive director for the Alabama Sheriffs Association, told 1819 News on Thursday.
Mack said the task forces could also be expanded to "some other areas across the state."
"The Montgomery model has kind of been like what we're looking at designing it by. That's cooperation (with) increased presence by ALEA. ALEA devoting actual troopers that will be working in those metropolitan areas in concentration areas and also the cooperation between us and the feds," Mack said. "Visibility deters crime. Visibility: your presence discovers crime before it happens. That's what we saw in Montgomery is we saw when we put those high concentration areas down, then the numbers started going up on arrests, but overall crime started going down because of that."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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