Woodfin tasks new commission with reducing homicides

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.