You would have to be living under a rock to not be aware that two of our state’s metropolitan areas have a serious problem with violent crime. Montgomery and Birmingham have become crime-ridden war zones that resemble third world countries like Mexico, run by drug cartels.
The rampant, open-ended violence and cavalier murders in Montgomery and Birmingham leapt so high in 2024, that people who still lived there were scared to come out of their homes for fear of being shot. Even their homes were not safe places, a good many small children were reported murdered from stray bullets in Birmingham, while asleep in their beds.
Montgomery had become so bad that legislators were and still are afraid to come to the Capitol. Most of the Supreme Court Judges do not come to the Capital City until necessary. The town of Pike Road and City of Auburn have become the residences of a good many people who must come to Montgomery to work.
When the time comes for BRAC to decide whether to keep the Maxwell/Gunter Complex/War College in Montgomery, it will be a tough sell for the U.S. Defense Department to keep their base in a war zone. The only argument they can make is that, if a foreign country sends their officers to the War College for training, they will get a true simulated war experience. Their odds of getting shot while staying in Montgomery is greater than a true war at home. If they could survive a year in Montgomery, they could survive a year in any war. These young officers are still not going to be able to bring their wives or children with them to Montgomery.
Inner city Birmingham and Montgomery are probably never going to be growth centers for our state but something has to be done because the unbridled crime and rampant murder rates affects the image of the entire state.
Therefore, our super majority Republican Legislature has made solving the Birmingham and Montgomery crime problem a priority. They have come forth with a package of bills and made it the foremost issue of the Session. Governor Kay Ivey advocated for this anti-crime in her State of the State address to legislators at the beginning of the Session. The legislation advanced are common sense and should make a difference.
In June of 2024, Montgomery leaders got serious about their crime problem and yielded to a special Metro Crime Suppression Unit. This Unit has been extremely successful. It has been led by ALEA Director Hal Taylor and Montgomery Sheriff Derek Cunningham. These two brilliant, top-notch law enforcement leaders have taken the bull by the horns in Montgomery.
During the past 10 months, this Special Unit led by ALEA has served 508 arrest warrants, made 202 arrests, seized 157 firearms and 100 machine gun conversion devices, recovered 35 stolen vehicles, initiated 56 vehicle pursuits, and conducted 44 drug seizures – including a fentanyl bust potent enough to kill over 5,000 people.
Seeing the success of this Unit, Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road) passed legislation to appropriate additional funds to further enhance the Montgomery project. Hopefully, Birmingham will take advantage of these revenues and relinquish jurisdiction for Taylor’s elite Unit to help them. In passage of these Special Unit ALEA appropriations, Rep. Ingram said, “This Unit has been incredibly effective in Alabama’s Capital City and has, without a doubt, led to a decrease in violent crimes across the River Region. The bottom line is that the best way to protect communities is to have a strong law enforcement presence in areas where violent crime is occurring, and I believe making the Alabama Metro Crime Suppression Unit a statewide, full-time task force does just that.”
State Senator Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) spearheaded important legislation, which criminalizes glock switch gun possession a Class C felony under Alabama Law.
One of the most important Legislative Acts of this momentous anti-crime package was the Back the Blue Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville), who is the former Police Chief of Huntsville. Under this new protection, a law enforcement officer would be shielded from a lawsuit unless he or she was acting recklessly without law enforcement justification, or he or she was violating a person’s clearly established rights.
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at [email protected].
