Birmingham Conducting Review Of Police Department Procedures, Could Make Changes To Operate In Post-George Floyd World
In a Wednesday morning press conference, Mayor Randall Woodfin sketched out plans for how the Birmingham Police Department will proceed “in a post-George Floyd world.”
Those plans, he said, involve a 30-day internal review and the formation of a community safety task force that will perform a “90-day deeper dive into all our BPD rules and procedures.” Any “gaps between what we do now and best practices,” he said, would be addressed via executive order.
“Everything is on the table,” he said.
The press conference followed nationwide unrest after unarmed Minneapolis man George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauven, who knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for eight minutes and 48 seconds. Birmingham has since been the site of several protests, most notably a May 31 demonstration at Linn Park that escalated into violence and property damage and led Woodfin to impose a weeklong curfew that strongly curtailed peaceful demonstrations in the city.
That curfew was lifted Monday night. Tuesday morning, dozens of protestors gathered at City Hall to demand the city “defund the police,” specifically, to reallocate part of the Police Department’s $150,000 ammunition budget to social services.
On Wednesday morning, Woodfin said that the Birmingham Police Department’s budget will be “combed through,” as would the budgets for all community-facing departments, including the Department of Community Development and the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.
Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith, also present at the press conference, added that much of the department’s ammunition budget is dedicated to providing officers with ammunition for handgun training and certification.
During Wednesday morning’s press conference, Woodfin and Smith largely focused on addressing the national “8 Can’t Wait” campaign, which calls for police departments to adopt more restrictive use-of-force policies, including banning chokeholds and requiring police to issue verbal warnings before using deadly force.
Woodfin said his initial 30-day internal review would focus on the criteria laid out by that campaign.
“At the end of that 30-day period, I will issue an executive order executing any gaps we find (in) what we do,” he said.
In that period, his administration also will appoint a community safety task force that will look more closely at the department’s rules and procedures; after 90 days, Woodfin said he would “use a final executive order” to make any necessary changes.
But Woodfin spent much of Wednesday’s press conference praising Smith and the BPD, citing a 30% drop in violent crime and a 27% drop in property crime since Smith was hired in 2018.
Smith highlighted his engagement with Birmingham residents, saying that his “first order of business” upon taking the job of police chief was “to listen.” That resulted in some internal changes to the department, he said
“When I listened to you two years ago, you told me that there were officers in this department that should not be here,” Smith said. “Since taking over as chief of police, 16 officers on this department have been terminated … 39 have received suspension days, 25 have received additional training, and 12 have been sent to counseling.”
Twelve more officers, he added, have been exonerated. Smith said he would make basic information about those cases public.
Woodfin added that accountability “is a key value for our administration,” including the police department.
“We still have much work to do but we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “We’re committed to a level of accountability and transparency to build and maintain trust among all people of Birmingham.”
Migrants deported from U.S. to Salvadoran prison remain under U.S. control
The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the men who were deported from the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison.
DHS ends Temporary Protected Status for thousands from Nicaragua and Honduras
Some 76,000 people from Nicaragua and Honduras were covered by TPS, which provides protection from deportation and grants work permits to people from certain nations affected by war or natural disasters.
BRICS nations push back as Trump warns of tariffs
Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging economies meeting for their annual summit had hoped to downplay any differences with the U.S. But even a toned down group proclamation drew the ire of President Trump.
DOJ says no evidence Jeffrey Epstein had a ‘client list’ or blackmailed associates
The two-page memo outlines the "exhaustive review" the department conducted of the Epstein files in its possession, and also reiterates that Epstein died by suicide, contrary to some conspiracy theories.
Floods are getting more dangerous around the country, not just in Texas
The deadly floods in Central Texas were caused by extremely heavy rain. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.
Near old Montana mine, special clinic for asbestos-related illness fights to survive
The Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, Montana, closed in May after a court judgment. The clinic's federal funding is also threatened. Patients with scarred lungs worry about what's next.
