Mayor Randall Woodfin is on a nationwide media tour promoting sales of his new book while Birmingham is facing the highest number of homicides in a century and the lowest number of sworn-in police officers in recent history.
State Rep. Jundalynn Givan (D-Birmingham), who is challenging Woodfin in the 2025 Birmingham mayoral race, says he has attempted to run the Birmingham Police Department from City Hall during his time as mayor – and it’s getting people killed.
“This city cannot be run based upon someone’s thought process of being an influencer,” Givan told Yellowhammer News. “My interest is in the concern for the people, for the lives lost, for the over 1,000 dead in the course of eight years. It came out to 158 dead at the end of 2024.”
Givan is accusing Woodfin of mismanaging the police department into the ground, citing high turnover among senior leaders and a lack of interest in recruitment and retention of officers. While Givan repetitively skewered Woodfin, at no point during an hour-long interview did she use his name.
“No mayor should be appointing the assistant chiefs. The mayor should not be appointing the deputy chief. Birmingham has lost not just four or five chiefs under this administration – if you count all of the assistant chiefs and deputy chiefs – you’re looking at twenty-something chiefs under one administration that we’ve lost. And it doesn’t make sense.”
RELATED: Birmingham Crime Commission releases report calling for action to reverse city’s deadly trajectory
Officer shortage issues for Birmingham Police Department are inextricably linked to the increase in violent crime, Givan and other state lawmakers argue. However, that issue is only partially understood, as official numbers about turnover within BPD is not publicly available – even to state legislators.
A recent report of the Birmingham Crime Commission, which was initiated after a shooting that left four dead and dozens wounded in September, revealed only an extent of the issues. As described by the report, “Insufficient personnel particularly in the homicide unit, has resulted in strained workloads, slower response times, and backlogged cases.”
According to the report, 21% of officers resign with 2-3 years of service, half of those leaving are under the age of 40, and the frontline patrol division has the highest number of turnover.
In Birmingham, the number of homicides rose from 53 in 2014 to 159 in 2024.
RELATED: Birmingham marks most homicides since 1933, breaking grim 91-year record
“This isn’t about a like or dislike, and I said that several times, I wanted to see this administration, this leadership succeed. I’ve never had a reason not to and I still would love for it to succeed,” Givan said.
“We for eight years have been trying to speak to this administration, begging and pleading – it can be verified over and over again – calls at the midnight hour. There’s an issue with this police department. You have a lack of morale, but not only that, the number of sworn officers is dropping.”
With the 2025 state legislative session beginning next week, lawmakers are prepared to deal with the issue of crime in Alabama. Leadership in both chambers have indicated a package of bills will be brought that could steepen criminal penalties, crack down on illegal guns getting into the hands of violent criminals, as well as potentially stronger measures.
One bill proposes to enable the state to appoint local police chiefs in municipalities that meet specific requirements.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
