Mayor of Birmingham, among those who speak against the governor, AG designating the interim police chiefs

“We need to hold these cities responsible,” said Representative Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, sponsor of the House of Representatives and President of the County Government Committee of the House of Representatives and the municipal government. The committee approved the legislation. Now he goes to the floor of the full house for consideration.

The bill is an amended version of an original proposal that allowed the attorney general or the governor to make the appointment.

Ingram said that demanding that the two constitutional officials agree before an interim boss is designated It will help make it a more unified decision.

The legislation now also limits the interim boss to a six -month appointment. The previous bill did not have a period in which the interim boss could serve.

Ingram declared that intermediate bosses would provide assistance to the municipality before resigning, even if they are volunteers.

The legislation was introduced last summer when Montgomery was full of armed violence, including A triple homicide in a Hispanic groceries on June 4. Montgomery police chief Darryl Albert resigned last April, and the city began operating with an interim police chief.

The bill says that the governor and the attorney general can intervene and appoint an interim police chief if the personnel within the police department must be 30% discount at the average levels of personnel during the previous 10 years. The legislation also requires consultation with the district prosecutor and the Sheriff.

But according to reportsThe experienced city saw a 19% decrease in homicides and a 13% decrease in non -fatal shootings. Since then, a new permanent police chief has been hired, and thousands of illegal firearms have been removed from the streets.

The legislation opposes the mayors of some of the largest cities in the state, which call themselves the “great 10” mayors.

He has also raised concerns of the Liga de Municipalities of Alabama, who is concerned about his “unwanted consequences.”

According to Greg Cochran, executive director of the League, his legal staff is concerned that a judge can interpret the legislation “to expand the exposition of responsibility of the officer and the municipality that serve.”

The mayor of Birmingham, Randall Woodfin, traveled to Montgomery to attend the press conference of Governor Kay Ivey about his public security invoices, but declared that HB14 does not have broad support.

“We continue to share our collective opposition against that bill,” Woodfin said.

Democratic legislators in the committee also expressed concern about the bill. Representative Kelvin Datcher, a Birmingham Democrat, said he felt worried that the legislation could create “political and arbitrary” scenarios that the governor and the attorney general intervene to replace the police chiefs in certain cities while ignoring the problematic crime In other areas.

“We all listen to the cities called, Birmingham and Bessemer,” Datcher said.

“But the county adjacent to my county, in 2010, was the epicenter of the methamphetamine crisis. You had another one that was the zero zone for opioids. No one talked about them. “

The representative Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, read several recent headlines in cities such as Montgomery and Birmingham, illustrating the creation of criminal work forces and the elimination of thousands of illegal firearms from the streets of the city.

Clarke declared that recent actions suggest progress in the boarding of crime.

“It seems that something is happening here,” he said.

Ingram acknowledged that the Alabama Law Application Agency cannot address the high crime areas in each county with a working group.

“This is just a temporary solution,” he said.