Birmingham Applies For Grants To Beef Up Surveillance, Readies To Open Real-Time Crime Center
The city of Birmingham will apply for a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to purchase and maintain license plate readers in an effort “to improve the [Birmingham Police Department’s] response to violent crime.”
The city of Birmingham will apply for state and federal grants to purchase new license plate readers and high-definition surveillance cameras, the city council decided Tuesday.
The city will apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, through the Alabama Law Enforcement Safety Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, for $100,000 to purchase and maintain license plate readers “to improve the [Birmingham Police Department’s] response to violent crime.”
That decision comes just over a year after the council approved the installation of 10 license plate recognition cameras as part of a deal with Alabama Power. The city pays the utility a monthly rate of $2,291.67 to maintain the cameras. Those cameras had received pushback from activists concerned over “excessive” city funding for police, but Tuesday, the grant applications were approved without any discussion or controversy.
Another grant application approved Tuesday — also to DOJ through ADECA — requests $35,000 for the purchase, installation and maintenance of high-resolution surveillance cameras.
The council also approved a $394,231.50 increase in its contract with the Texas-based Tyler Technologies to add computer-aided dispatch maintenance services.
After multiple delays, the Birmingham Police Department is scheduled to launch its “real-time crime center” sometime this month. The $940,030 facility will serve as the BPD’s technological hub, consolidating technology such as ShotSpotter, PredPol, and Motorola’s CommandCentral Aware and BriefCam softwares.
These efforts are intended to combat the city’s rising rate of violent crime. Aside from a slight dip in 2018, the city’s homicide rate has increased steadily since 2014; 2020’s 124 homicides were the most the city had seen since 1994, and 2021 is roughly on track to match that number.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban will have a ‘snowball effect’ on residents across the South
Abortion rights advocates say the ban will likely force many to travel farther for abortion care and endure pregnancy and childbirth against their will.
Attitudes among Alabama lawmakers softening on Medicaid expansion
Alabama is one of ten states which has not expanded Medicaid. Republican leaders have pushed back against the idea for years.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
