In a two-year period between 2018 and 2020 Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared more than 640 percent and now make up half the citys total income. Neither the mayor nor chief would talk about pending litigation, but both said they have reviewed the cases involved, including bodycam footage, and said they found no wrongdoing on the citys part. Attempts to reach Tidwell were unsuccessful. Hed been stopped for rolling the stop sign, which he disputes, and speeding, which he also disputes. Then she saw the officer tap the radio on his chest. They were shining these flashlights in my car and it was daylight. Third party advertisements support hosting, listing verification, updates, and site maintenance. He told me it would be in my best interest if I just shut the F up, she said. He expected officers to stay busy, and they were. Officers began to pick up the bags and bring them into the little town hall, said Kimberlee Hudgens, a Brookside dispatcher at the time. Bill Dawson, a lawyer in Birmingham, said he's had about two dozen people contact him with allegations, but for years, many have been too reluctant to complain. Olive. I clearly did not run the stop sign as I had just seen them sitting on top of I-22 overpass. The town of Brookside, Alabama holds municipal court once a month. Lawyer Bill Dawson, who has filed multiple lawsuits against Brookside, first became aware of the towns overreach in 2019. Published: Mar. Dozens of people sharing their stories about encounters with Brookside officers during an emergency town hall in Fultondale hosted by State Representative Juandalynn Givan and . He said response times were long because Brookside often had to rely on the Jefferson County Sheriffs department for service. These figures were provided by the city: Brookside Police. People who were detained by Brookside officers beyond a traffic stop. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. It was only after she went to court six weeks later that she learned where the car was impounded. A court worker told her she would have to plead guilty or go to driving school. Terms and Conditions. Ramon Perez showed up for court in December ready to fight traffic citations he got in Brookside. So it was a bit of a moral outrage because I had sat in court three times now and it was no longer a mistake., This was an intentional policy of the city and my niece just happened to get caught up in it and happened to challenge it. Theyd be given a Gideons Bible because the previous mayor was a Gideon, and theyd be released from jail.. In addition, the police charged her with making a false 911 call, obstructing government operations by refusing to give proper papers, and disorderly conduct for yelling for others to come out of their homes. The Town of Brookside released this statement: To investigate and address the issues raised by the recent news accounts of our Police Department, on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, the Town of Brookside requested the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission (APOSTC) perform a compliance audit of the Brookside Police Department . For driving with an expired tag. But the police department in Brookside, Alabama has managed to do exactly that. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, originally filed on behalf of Cory Thomas, are Thomas; Tinetta Jackson; Keyarah Smith; Ben Blackwell; James Donahue; Gerald Smith; Brittany Todd; and Zachary Harris. Read more stories from our Banking on Crime series: If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and GOP Lt. Gov. Perez ultimately decided to pay the $1,100 fine on top of hundreds hed already spent to get his towed car back and get the heck out of Brookside. Law-abiding citizens should not fall prey to a renegade police department that is accountable to no one.. Just 50 cars were towed in 2018, but that jumped to 789 cars two years later, or an average of more than two a day. Harris lawyers contend she was taken to the Brookside jail, strip-searched, and told she could be jailed up to two days. All rights reserved (About Us). Address, Phone Number, and Fax Number for Brookside Police Department, a Police Department, at Main Street, Brookside AL. The ABC3340 News I-Team first exposed . Fairness and real justice, I believe, is something people are looking for when it comes to law enforcement. Though Alabama has dozens of towns that treat drivers like ATMs, the new laws were mainly prompted by a multi-part investigation by AL.com into Brookside, a town with fewer than 1,300 residents . The Town of Brookside released this statement: To investigate and address the issues raised by the recent news accounts of our Police Department, on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, the Town of Brookside requested the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and Training Commission (APOSTC) perform a compliance audit of the Brookside Police Department . He instituted a no pleas from Brookside rule, and asked his workers to flag for scrutiny every case out of that town. Attempts to reach Jones have been unsuccessful since January. As more tickets brought in more money, the town began to spend much more. He lent his car to a friend, who was pulled over and arrested for drug possession. He was charged with 31 counts of criminal littering, and town Judge Wooten had fined him $14,268. We said we couldnt see it from 50 feet away.. The law, according to Hudgens, was what Mike Jones said it was. originally filed on behalf of Cory Thomas, AL.com in January reported how Brookside used fines and forfeitures, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. But lawyers and law enforcement officers across central Alabama have raised questions about things in Brookside they say they have never otherwise come across. I just knew that I did not want to be part of a workplace that did such low-down things, she said. Reporting Agency: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Alabama. Residents like Price and her neighbor Bobbie Pickle bristled when Jones began walking through backyards and into carports, posting big orange stickers on cars or boats without current tags, telling people their property would be towed. It showed police in 2020 patrolled 114,438 miles in the 6.3-mile town and issued more than 3,000 citations a 692% increase from 2018. The Planning Jurisdictions and City/Town Limits in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Cars were towed for failure to show insurance, for not having a drivers license, and lawsuits now claim officers frequently ignored insurance paperwork as an excuse to tow cars. Brookside until recently was known for its quirky Russian food festival and the states only onion-domed Russian Orthodox Church. In less than three months, she said, Brookside separately pulled over both her and her housemate and impounded both of their vehicles. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The Alabama House passed a bill that would make it illegal to move police jurisdiction signs. We had cameras in dispatch and there were multiple times when he would bring an inmate into his office and shut the door, she said. Its unheard of.. And it broke her heart, it broke my heart.. She has watched and documented stops there. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. Ive never seen a possession case split like that, he said. Court is now set to resume this Thursday. IE 11 is not supported. Seven Brookside police officers have resigned since details of the towns aggressive policing strategy gained national attention in January. Police must direct traffic before the 1 p.m. court session starts. The town of Brookside confirmed that Chief Mike Jones resigned from his position in a brief press release Tuesday afternoon. But in 2018 it . Jones had been a cop in nearby Shelby County, in the affluent suburbs south of Birmingham. Tornado activity: Brookside-area historical tornado activity is slightly above Alabama state average.It is 161% greater than the overall U.S. average.. On 4/8/1998, a category F5 (max. It took four months before she could save for another car. The real trouble for Michelle Jones began as she started posting on her Facebook page when she saw Brookside police stopping people in places she thought were out of bounds. We made the decision that we wouldnt do that again, that this would just be a self-contained Brookside, said council member Chris McCondichie, the former mayors son. Chana Hodges, one of many people harassed by the Brookside Police Dept.. Brookside Police left their jurisdiction to arrest her at her place of business. And the town bought in. Police gave him a ticket for running a stop sign, which he disputed. The issue gained prominence in the wake of the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, when a report by a St. Louis-area public defender group found that Black drivers in Ferguson were more likely to be stopped by police and local courts were abusing their power by charging high fines and fees for nonviolent offenses, sometimes leading to arrests when they went unpaid. Katie Baggett moved to Brookside in December 2020. Ainsworth, also a Republican, told AL.com that his office would look at legislative options to determine how to prevent towns from taking advantage of drivers passing through on highways, a problem lawmakers acknowledged is happening across the state. On the other end was a caller IDd as coming from the Brookside Town Hall, she said. I had to be patient., Netta Womack tells her story. Fallout over the Brookside revelations continues. Time after time they say they were pulled over by multiple officers in multiple vehicles for minor charges such as expired tag or following too closely, that they were searched, towed, and forced to pay large fines for violations many say they did not commit. Traffic tickets, and criminalizing those who passed through, became the citys leading industry. He saw so many people trying to park in the grassy field outside the municipal building that police had to direct traffic. Bryan told a supportive crowd that he is working to build a better future in a way that makes families feel safe. Others werent so fortunate. About Us Contact Us The audits show, however, how the town came to depend on the ticket money. Ultimately another officer took Perez to his friends house to retrieve her ID, he said. Brookside is a poor town, 70% white, 21% Black, with a small but growing Hispanic population and a median income well below the state average. Sandra Jo Harris, a 52-year-old grandmother, claims in a lawsuit she pulled off I-22 at Cherry Avenue on Jan. 8, 2020, as she often did when she went to visit her daughter. Sheriff Pettway gaped at the Brookside ratio. The accounts of drivers dozens of them are strikingly similar. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. I saw him and we looked eye to eye, the Chelsea business owner said. He swore hed seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. I was freezing.. Brookside now faces at least five lawsuits. Which is another problem altogether, Sheriff Pettway said. I should have brought a lawyer, but right now my time is not there, he said. Brookside is one tiny place that caught the brief attention of the nation and could help people understand the dangers of using law enforcement to fund governments, she said. Jones blamed the lawsuits on ambulance-chasing attorneys.. However, if you do not have an address, the Mississippi Neighborhood Explorer is the SECOND-BEST-TOOL to research a neighborhood (it provides a subset of the information that the Address Research Tool provides), but you can get a report by simply marking a spot on a map. All rights reserved (About Us). Officers said they stopped her because the tag light on her Honda Odyssey was not visible from 50 feet away. Will Ainsworth, have said Brookside and towns that use overly aggressive policing to fill their coffers must change. Arrest Files Date Published: 03/04/2023. At Brookside municipal court, the courtroom and the parking lot are packed with people. Wattson claims he was unaware of the drugs. In his call to Jones this week, the investigator said he could not tell me anything because of the ongoing investigation, Jones said. But not in the courtroom. She thought the complaint was long forgotten or closed. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to let a class-action lawsuit go forward against an Alabama town accused of policing for profit with excessive fines and aggressive enforcement of local laws.Video above: Federal class action lawsuit filed against Town of Brookside, police officers The U.S. attorney's office this week filed a statement of interest in the civil lawsuit against . Audits by Philip Morgan & Co., covering at least five consecutive years, pointed out as a shortcoming that the town did not have a budget or a policy of adopting one annually. And the police chief has called for more. Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. Police put her in a patrol car and searched her vehicle for drugs. Brookside police made 4.4 arrests in 2020 for every household. Address, Phone Number, and Fax Number for Brookside Police Department, a Police Department, at Main Street, Brookside AL. She fought it instead. Police Chief Mike Jones has since resigned, Lt. Gov. Find 12 external resources related to Brookside Police Department. They went out and got it, in other municipalities, as armed debt collectors. The Brookside Police Department, located in Brookside, Alabama is a law enforcement agency that has been granted specific police powers in Jefferson County. The town already had weapons and a personnel carrier through the program the feds call it a mine-resistant vehicle and residents knew it as the tank., The town of Brookside, Alabama holds municipal court once a month. Brookside police officers in sworn depositions indicated they did not follow drivers for a full mile and a half before or after the new law was passed, and they continued to write tickets under the old law after the new road rage bill passed. In 2020 they came to $610,000. He was charged with misdemeanor possession, but also five counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, for: The names of the officers were not listed on the tickets in secretive Brookside.