As the City of Montgomery continues to deal with a rising crime problem, residents are turning to the state government for potential solutions.
State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road) has proposed one such fix that would have the State of Alabama take over failing law enforcement agencies and correct the problem before surrendering it back to local control.
During an appearance on FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," Senate Judiciary Committee chairman State Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) suggested he agrees with his House of Representatives counterpart.
The Montgomery County lawmaker argued for a World War II-era U.S. Army Gen. George Patton approach to fixing these departments to be better equipped to maintain public safety.
Remarks as follows:
Well, you know, I think first of all, it is not a problem that only Montgomery faces, it's not a problem that only the state of Alabama faces. Unfortunately, it's a nationwide problem. We've lost respect for law enforcement officers. We've seen them vilified in the news media and social media that anytime something happens, everybody has their phones out, they're videotaping police officers who are trying to do their job. And so, you know — this is the fact that men and women get up every day and face the prospect of being injured or killed by someone while they're doing their job, that's nothing new. That's been there for a long time.
My dad retired from Montgomery Police Department in 1981 or '82, had an uncle that was a policeman in Montgomery and two uncles that were troopers. Those things existed as far back as there's been law enforcement. But what you have seen is a seismic change of what the public thinks of law enforcement, and that's in no small part due to social media and the liberal media that has just been hammering on law enforcement folks. So, when you combine those two, you see not only, you know, the lack of respect for law enforcement, but and the fact that, you know, you might not come home once you put on the badge and you leave that day. Those two things combined with the fact that you might get sued or you might get prosecuted for doing your job. I mean, all of those things, in my opinion, and my discussion with several folks in the law enforcement community, have left, you know, meant that people have left that, especially in inner cities, and they're going to find other jobs. I wouldn't want my kids to be a police officer in a major metropolitan area, be it Montgomery or Birmingham or anywhere else throughout the country because of all of those things.
So what do you do? Well, when you have officers that are leaving police departments, for instance, and you're, you know, half-staff, I think Montgomery, we budgeted somewhere around 490, 500 spots in the MPD, and I think the last report I had from a week or so ago was we were at about 265 or 270. May have dropped down below that now. So what do you do? Well, first of all, you've got to have somebody in charge of that police department. I use an analogy like a George Patton — has the ability, the knowledge, the know-how and the will to be an effective law enforcement person, unhandcuffed by those in positions of authority or power over that police chief.
So, you've got to have the will and the experience and the know-how to do your job and the ability. And that ability also includes, you know, you can have a General Patton who is unhandcuffed, but if he's fighting at half staff, half force, then it's probably not going to be a winnable situation. So, you've got to build back respect for that office. You've got to build back respect for the police department in general, and you do that from the top down, and it takes a while. I think eventually, if you have the right man or woman as your police chief who meets those criteria, if it checks all those boxes, that you'll have men and women on the police department that stay there or come back and want to be a part of that 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.
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