Birmingham Councilor Suggests Calling in the Guard If Nothing Else Curbs Crime in the City
By Sam Prickett
Birmingham City Councilor Steven Hoyt called on Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin Tuesday to change his strategies for fighting crime in Birmingham, even if it means calling in the National Guard.
Woodfin quickly shot down that idea, saying, “We will not be calling the National Guard,” and emphasized that most of the city’s homicides “are not random.”
“These are interactions between people who know each other,” he said.
Hoyt’s comments were sparked after a Monday night shooting in the city’s Belview Heights neighborhood left one man dead. The victim, 27-year-old Michael James Weeks, was the 60th reported homicide in Birmingham this year; seven of those homicides have since been ruled as justified.
That’s a marked increase from last year, which by June 18 had logged 50 homicides.
“I just need a new plan,” Hoyt said to Woodfin during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, arguing that residents are being “terrorized” by violent crime.
“My mother told me if you don’t know how to do something, ask somebody. Get some help … We did a couple of (crime) studies; it ain’t working. (We) brought a new chief in here; it ain’t working. So I’m just trying to figure it out … Maybe we need to call the National Guard in here to help us control this city.”
Woodfin immediately turned back that idea and began reassuring residents of Belview Heights that “your neighborhood is very safe.”
Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith in a presentation to the council last month also emphasized that most of the homicides in the city are not random acts of violence.
“A lot of people say, … ‘Are we really safe out there?’ My answer to you is, ‘Yes, absolutely, without a doubt,’” Smith said then.
“I wish we had the power to put a police officer on every corner, but I don’t think that’s what residents want,” Woodfin said Tuesday. “I think the word the councilor used was ‘terror.’ There is no terror in Belview Heights, based on the definition that I know of terrorism. These are things that are happening that are very personal in nature.”
Woodfin added that Birmingham police had taken “well over 500 guns off the street” since the beginning of 2019. “The truth is, I wish we could take every one,” he said. “I think (residents) have appreciated our police presence increase … and I think they appreciate us taking more guns off the street, which we have.”
Hoyt said that Woodfin’s response was not “satisfactory.”
“Terror is something that’s real,” he said. “I know when my wife is scared to come home, she’ll call me so I can meet her there to be sure she gets in the house safe. But you can’t say that’s not terror … It is terror.”
Woodfin did not respond further.
Trump names former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his new pick for U.S. attorney general
After former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration, President-elect Donald Trump named Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, as his next pick for U.S. attorney general.
Police report gives details, timeline of the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth
The woman who accused then-Fox News host of sexual assault in 2017 said that she "remembered saying 'no' a lot," according to a police report. Hegseth is President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense.
Alabama Black Belt’s sewer crisis a tougher fix for residents in manufactured homes
Poor sanitation has long plagued residents in Alabama’s Black Belt. For people with manufactured houses, finding a solution has been more challenging.
In Birmingham, Black men’s groups work to save young men from the cycle of gun violence
As the city inches closer to its homicide record, community members are trying to address a sense of fatalism and lack of opportunity felt by some young men.
What is the ICC and can it really arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
The ICC also issued warrants for Yoav Gallant, former Israeli defense minister, and Hamas leader Muhammad Deif. But it doesn't have an enforcement mechanism and relies on states to make the arrests.
Former Brazilian president indicted over alleged coup plot
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro and several others have been charged with attempting to overthrow incoming government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.
