Patrick Smith takes command as Birmingham’s new police chief
Patrick Smith took office June 25 as Birmingham’s new police chief, and among his belongings is an envelope he’s carried since the start of his law enforcement career 28 years ago. When Smith joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1990, his mother gave him a sheet of paper and asked him to write his goal for the future. He wrote four words: “Chief of Police, Birmingham.” “I kept that piece of paper in an envelope for the duration of my career,” Smith said in a recent interview with the Birmingham Times. “When I received the call from (Mayor Randall Woodfin about) becoming chief of police in Birmingham, it was a very emotional moment because I pointed to the heavens and said, ‘I told you, Mom, we could do it.’” Smith’s mother, Dorothy, died seven years ago, but she would be proud of her son — a veteran LAPD administrator who is now police chief for Alabama’s largest city. After a five-month search, Woodfin announced June 4 that Smith would serve as chief of the Birmingham Police Department. Smith, 54, a Tuscaloosa native, is taking over during a time when homicides and some violent crimes have increased in Birmingham, and residents and city leaders want something done. “I love the city, but I would like for there to be better police protection when stuff goes on,” said Prude Fuller, president of the Airport Highlands Neighborhood Association. “I think that’s very important because there’s too much crime … in the city in general.” Smith has heard from residents and read up on Birmingham, and he is aware that crime stats will be watched closely during his tenure. He doesn’t want anyone to expect an overnight fix, though. Top priority “The biggest thing I see for the BPD is hiring, recruitment and retention,” Smith said. We can’t do anything until we … get the right people on the job. Currently, we have more than 100 vacancies. That affects the number of people who are out on patrol, who are addressing calls. We need to address the basic services (such as 911 calls) before we do everything else. That’s going to be one of my primary focuses because (we need to have the right) people to address crime.” Smith knows he must also get out among the residents in Birmingham’s 99 neighborhoods and 23 communities. Birmingham City Council President Valerie Abbott said, “I would advise (Smith) to meet with the (23) communities and hear what they have to say. “(All) 99 neighborhoods would be too many to meet with, but the people who actually live in the neighborhoods know what the problems are.” That’s part of his mission, Smith said: “I plan to learn the 23 communities and 99 neighborhoods within the city because each one has to have a different formula for what will work. Law enforcement is not one-size-fits-all. I’m not coming into Birmingham thinking I know everything about the city and everything that’s going on.” Alabama native “Growing up the youngest of 13 was a very interesting experience,” he said. “You learn different roles. You learn to be a negotiator. You learn to be a collaborator. You learn to work with your family as a team. You learn how to resolve problems. I think all of those are important and effective tools in law enforcement.”Smith was born and raised in Tuscaloosa and attended Central High School. He is the youngest of 13 siblings, which in some ways helped prepare him for his career. He remembers watching cop shows when he was younger, including “The Mod Squad” with the supercool Clarence Williams III as Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, described by Smith as a “very dynamic character.” “Just the fact that they were working kind of a quasi-undercover assignment, I found that interesting,” Smith said of the TV crime drama that aired from 1968 to 1973. Family ties Smith’s upbringing — with his mother, Dorothy, a Head Start teacher, and his father, Jasper, a longtime worker at Tuscaloosa’s Central Foundry — has always been his strongest influence. His parents “were both down-to-earth, genuine people,” Smith said. “They kept a close-knit family. In fact, my family still has dinner together every Sunday after church. When my mother passed away, we were able to track her membership at our family church back 53 years. Just coming back here and being able to return to (First African Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa), which my mother … and entire family attended for many, many years, is a blessing within itself.” Smith’s law enforcement career came into focus when he joined the military. He served seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps, completing his basic training at Parris Island, S.C. And he made stops at Camp Pendleton in California, as well as in Okinawa, Japan; Fuji, Japan; and the Philippines. “One of the things I did while traveling extensively was learn different cultures, different people, and different environments … just learn about people,” Smith said. “I think it has been extremely important because (it taught me) to respect different cultures and different people, how they were brought up, and the things that are important to them.” How does that apply to the duties of a police officer? “I can take someone to jail, but I don’t have to disrespect them as a person,” he said. “I can bring them in for what they’ve done, and they can be held accountable through the criminal justice system. But as an individual officer, as an individual person, it’s always important to treat (people) with dignity and respect regardless of what they’ve done.” LAPD In Los Angeles, Smith worked his way up through the ranks, starting as a patrol officer, then becoming a police field-training officer and instructor, sergeant, lieutenant and captain. Most recently, since 2015, he served as a police commander. Transitioning from a large city like Los Angeles to a smaller one like Birmingham can be a culture shock. LA has a population of nearly four million, and the LAPD has approximately 9,000 sworn officers and 3,000 civilian employees. Birmingham has
Randall Woodfin begins search for new Birmingham police chief
During Tuesday’s city council meeting Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced a national search for a new police chief and several new department heads. Siena Consulting will be conducting the the search, which will cost the city $124,000. The company will find candidates for the directors of human resources, finance, information management services and public works positions. Woodfin said the search for a new police chief will be “overly open” and that the public will be kept up to date on the status of the search. He doesn’t know if finalists for the position will be made public. During the same meeting Tuesday, Woodfin announced his entrance into a contract with Crowe Horwath LLP and PGV Advisors. They will collaborate with the city on a performance appraisal of operations to determine if city departments are staffed and funded at the correct levels. The following departments will be assessed: finance, community development, human resources, Information Management Services, police, municipal court, law, public works and planning, engineering and permits. The costs associated with this contract were not immediately released. The search for a new police chief comes in the wake of former police Chief A.C. Roper stepping down from his post on November 29, the day after Woodfin took office. Roper served as police chief for 10 years. Woodfin said Roper’s departure will allow the city the freedom to “take a fresh look at solutions to address one of the most pressing issues facing our city, which we all know is crime.” In his State of the City address given Tuesday afternoon, Woodfin stated his administration will “be working in every area of the city to reduce crime, eliminate blight and increase the safety and security of all citizens.” An abundance of retirement announcements and resignations have followed Woodfin’s induction. Human resources director for the city, Peggy Polk, also announced her retirement on Nov. 29. Stephen Fancher, director of public works retired from his post. Information Management Services director Srikanth Karra announced he is leaving his post for another opportunity. Meanwhile Tom Barnett notified the mayor’s office of his retirement from the Finance director position on Tuesday. When Woodfin took office, both the director of community development and director of economic development were dismissed from their positions which have since been filled by their deputy department heads. Since taking office he has reduced the number of Bell appointees from 95 to 48. Woodfin said internal candidates would also be considered in the national search.
The Birmingham Police Department and the curious case of unanswered questions
My home burglary story isn’t different than most — while my house was unattended someone broke in through a back window, stole a television and some liquor and left unnoticed. The situation was not necessarily newsworthy, but the experience has opened my eyes to bigger questions about the Birmingham Police Department, its response to crimes, and to the priorities of funding by the city council. This week, the Birmingham City Council will pass its annual budget. In it you’ll find $92,974,535 allocated to the Birmingham Police Department. But the question is, is that enough to fund the functions residents expect from local law enforcement? Going back to my specific case, my expectations for the time and effort that would go into solving it were pretty low. Nearly two decades ago, I logged enough hours at my local police department in its crime prevention and criminal investigation units to allow me to attend to college on a community service scholarship. But the time I spent with them didn’t stop once I went to college. There, I continued to volunteer working an operation to do underage buys for the local PD and the state. Needless to say, the respect I have for officers has never wavered. It is an honorable profession that’s overwhelmingly staffed by honest, trustworthy men and women who unjustly see every bad seed and every bad deed unfairly cast upon them as a reflection of them all. That said, I’ve been vexed for months that despite the fact I did the legwork for the detective, he never did the follow up. Case and point: I provided three phone numbers of possible witnesses and none were called. I provided the address of a neighbor who thought she may have seen the vehicle of the suspect and she was never contacted. The detective said he would send officers to do drive by’s of my residence as I was anxious about the break-in. He said they’d leave “morning cards” to say they were there. That never happened. I didn’t get one card — and when a home video security system was installed, not once did it pick up a police car in my driveway (though I do have a lot of respect for the newspaper delivery guy who comes like clockwork between 4-6 a.m.). After 90 days I decided to inquire formally to try to make sense of what went wrong in hopes I could shed light on a bigger problem, if one exists. That’s where things really took a turn and I learned that it wasn’t just the investigator who was non-responsive, the public information officer wanted nothing to do with the story including giving me requested crime statistics and budget information (Alabama Today will be filing an official public records request for said information.). According to an AL.Com story by Carol Robinson, the FBI listed Birmingham as the fifth-highest city in the nation for crime. You don’t need to go any further than your evening news or morning paper to see that violent crime is a significant problem for our area. No reasonable person would think that a lot of manpower would be dedicated to something outwardly as trivial as a burglary, no matter how emotionally stressful it is for the homeowner to know strangers have invaded their space. I inquired with both the detective assigned my case, Det. James Canino, and the public information officer (PIO), Lt. Sean Edwards, and the response I received was nothing short of mind boggling and short on answers —apparently a common theme for Birmingham Police Department, in my personal experience. Note, I was simply asking basic questions about the investigation (or more appropriately lack of investigation) into the break-in of my home and for information that could help me understand if the challenges I encountered were something that had a deeper cause. I asked the PIO what is the “investigation standard processes, case loads, budget issues, or other facts that may help me explain how a case as simple as this wasn’t investigated at all? Also, can you please provide the number of burglaries for 2016 to date and of those the number that led to arrests?” Here’s the initial response I got back from Lt. Edwards, “This case has been thoroughly investigated by a burglary detective. There is nothing else to report at this time. I will not be making any comments regarding this case.” My hypothesis was that I’d find a lack of resources for non-violent crimes. It seems as though you can’t open up a single news source these days and not read about a violent crime, but I can’t go so far as to even reach that conclusion because the officers involved are too busy to tell me that they’re too busy to help or investigate. I’m now more sure than ever that the Birmingham Police Department has more departmental problems than it has investigations cases not being investigated. The question is — what’s the cause and who’s to blame for the situation? Since Lt. Edwards doesn’t feel he needs to answer my questions as a crime victim or editorial writer, I intend to take my search to the mayor, council, and police chief directly. Follow Alabama Today for more updates.
William Bell orders warrant for Marcus Lundy’s arrest withdrawn
In a new development in the so-called “Brawl at City Hall” covered by news outlets around the nation, Councilman Marcus Lundy is no longer on the lam, according to information first obtained by Alabama Today. Mayor William Bell has asked Birmingham Police to withdraw a warrant from Lundy’s arrest, a day after Lundy attacked the mayor after forcibly restraining him from leaving a room just off the City Council chambers, according to a police report. “Having been informed by the complainant that he desires the warrant to be, withdrawn it is hereby removed from active status immediately,” the order simply reads. “We are concerned about the overall good of the city and keeping up the positive momentum that we have seen over the past sever years. With that in mind, I have withdrawn my complaint,” explained Bell late Wednesday evening. Lundy had been charged with third-degree assault. The fight reportedly started after Lundy’s use of a city-owned car was revoked by the City. Lundy also charged Bell may have called Lundy’s employer, Regions Bank, and demanded his dismissal. Bell denies doing so.
