Woodfin tasks new commission with reducing homicides
Former Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper speaks at a press conference at Birmingham City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced a new advisory commission Tuesday tasked with finding ways to reduce homicides in the city.
Leaders in law enforcement, the business sector, religious groups and others will draw inspiration from violence reduction methods proven by cities from around the country.
“Good mayors steal the best ideas from other cities and you find those ideas and you tailor them to your city,” Woodfin said during the press conference at city hall.
Private funding through the Birmingham Police Foundation will support the commission’s work as the 21 members gather information on strategies that will help reduce gun violence in Birmingham. They plan to give the city an initial report on their recommendations sometime in the next 60 days.
“The beauty of this is it won’t be me or the mayor’s office or the [city] council getting in their way,” Woodfin said. “So they’ll take the lead on how they go about pulling their information; looking under the hood, if you would.”
The commission will be co-chaired by Lee Styslinger III, co-chairman of Altec Inc., and Ralph Wiliams Jr., vice president of Birmingham’s division of Alabama Power. Former Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper, who is advising the commission, says homicides are particularly difficult to combat.
“The bottom line is this homicide issue is a wicked problem,” Roper said. “And by that, I mean, it’s complex. It’s resistant to change and resistant to common solutions.”
The move comes after four people were killed in a mass shooting in Five Points South last month. Woodfin said while the city struggles with many types of crime, the citizen commission’s singular purpose is to address reducing homicides. According to al.com Birmingham has had 130 homicides this year as mid-October. The Gun Violence Archives reports that three of those were mass shootings, defined as shootings in which four or more people were killed. The city could set a new record for homicides in a single year.
Suspect arrested in Five Points South mass shooting
Damien Laron McDaniel III is charged with capital murder in the case. The 22-year-old is also charged with the murder of two other people.
Supreme Court refuses to interfere in EPA litigation, for now
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented while two other conservatives wrote that they may be sympathetic to the case were it to be brought after a lower court ruling.
Elon Musk has given $75 million, so far, to put Donald Trump back in the White House
Elon Musk is among the largest financial supporters of Donald Trump's reelection efforts, new FEC filings show. He and two other megadonors collectively gave $300 million to support Trump.
Four Americans allegedly killed by Israeli forces, why isn’t the U.S. investigating?
The Biden administration has urged Israel to conduct credible, transparent investigations into the Americans' deaths, so far Israel has not prosecuted anyone. We hear from families of those killed, and a member of congress, who think the U.S. Justice Department should be doing more.
A federal judge halts an Alabama program that purged thousands of legal voters
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco ruled in favor of the Department of Justice and civil rights groups and issued a preliminary injunction against a voter purging program launched by the Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen in August.
What we know about a secretive ICE training program for civilians
ICE has trained an estimated hundreds of civilians on using guns, surveillance tactics and more.
