Birmingham City Council Highlights 10.1.24
Birmingham Police Recruitment and Retention Proposal
The Birmingham City Council received an update on the City’s Police Officer Recruitment and Retention Proposal from the Mayor’s administration. Subsequently, a Special Called Committee of the Whole meeting was held to receive a more in-depth briefing directly following the Council meeting.
Some of the high points of these efforts include, but aren’t limited to: increasing the sign on bonus to $10,000 ($5k at graduation, $5k at 1-year mark), relocation bonuses of $2,000, approving additional take home cars for patrol officers, quarterly retention bonuses, a plan to compensate police trainees to prevent attrition, 12-weeks paid family leave, and up to 8 hours of mental health observance leave on a monthly basis.
The initial proposed budget for these recommendations would be roughly $16 million according to the Mayor’s administration. During the meeting it was stated that this would come from the City’s General Reserve Fund — as of 2023, that account totaled $290 million. Mayor Woodfin stated during the meeting this would not be a recurring $16 million expenditure.
This initiative is aimed at increasing the department’s ability to compete with surrounding municipalities to recruit and retain officers. Following recent events that have unfolded, the Council and the Mayor are focused on taking an accelerated approach to providing additional resources for law enforcement.
In Birmingham, the police department’s full-strength patrol is 440 officers citywide. We’re currently operating at 377 officers dispatched across all four precincts. This upcoming class of officers in the Birmingham Police Academy has 53 individuals currently enrolled, which will make up a significant portion of the current staffing attrition.
These staffing numbers are in line with a national trend of shortages in large cities. In 2020, BPD hired 67 officers, and 35 retired; In 2021, BPD hired 51 officers and 47 retired that same year; In 2022, BPD hired 31 and 14 officers eligible for retirement took it; In 2023, 19 officers were hired and 12 retired.
“Addressing this issue is going to take a unified front,” Councilor LaTonya Tate said. “I’m not in the business of pointing fingers about how we got here, but I know that Birmingham is a resilient and beautiful city. We’re committed to giving our law enforcement officials the tools they need to succeed here and help Birmingham reach its full potential.”
The goal is to have this plan approved in time for the November 19th BPD graduating class to participate in these incentives. However, as of Tuesday afternoon it was unclear if this would be presented to the full Council at next week’s meeting.
“This would be a turning point for us if these measures are approved,” BPD Chief Scott Thurmond told reporters following the meeting. On Saturday, 78 hopeful applicants took part in the BPD’s physical ability screening, the largest number since 2019.
For those interested, the Birmingham Police Department is currently hiring. People who wish to serve their community, please visit: https://police.birminghamal.gov/join-the-team/
The entire briefing can be viewed here
ITEMS 18 & 51
The Birmingham City voted unanimously to extend a pilot road closure program, known as Project Safe Streets, for a period not to exceed 90 days. The program was initially launched in the East Lake neighborhood in July.
According to city officials, the goal of cordoning off streets is to reduce the number of points of ingress and egress in the neighborhood to prevent drive-by shootings and perpetrators evading law enforcement due to the limited number accessible streets.
At today’s meeting, city officials indicated that the program has been a success thus far, and residents have bought into the plan — of the 381 neighborhood residents within the footprint who responded, 305 were in favor of the program.
“I want to thank those residents who stepped up and have been a part of the solution. I think these measures are a huge step in the right direction towards stabilizing the community,” Councilor JT Moore said. “I have residents who have shared with me their thoughts on this solution and how they appreciate it. This isn’t far from my home and I’ll tell you, people do speed, and I see kids playing near the road all the time. Being able to slow that traffic down is a big deal… I know for a fact that with the success of this pilot program, this same strategy could be deployed elsewhere. I was late this morning because residents came in and talked to me about massive trucks riding through their neighborhood. I could see something like this being very useful in some of those areas where truck drivers are taking short cuts through our neighborhoods.”
According to the Mayor’s administration, citizen engagement and planning with this pilot program began in April, with 90 percent of respondents being in favor of this pilot program. This included a town hall meeting, neighborhood association meetings and knocking on roughly 500 doors within the perimeter.
Here is a timeline for this new program:
July 8: Barriers were positioned in the streets and street closures commenced (temporary safety barriers were placed in front of the jersey barriers for two weeks and then removed).
July 22: Temporary Barriers are removed, and greenery is added to the barrier placements
October: The pilot program will be evaluated to determine next steps.
November 12: Public hearing on whether or not to extend the program further
According to Mayor Woodfin, the City will be evaluating the crime data that has been captured during this pilot program. In addition to reducing the amount of violent crime, the pilot program is aimed to reduce the practice of illegal dumping, and prostitution along Division Avenue.
“I don’t need to tell anyone who’s lived here for any amount of time about the problems that exist within this certain area,” Council President O’Quinn said. “Last year, ShotSpotter recorded over 2,200 shots fired in this area. That’s obviously not something people want to have in their community and with resident’s consent — as Mayor Woodfin said — it’s encouraging to see robust measures put in place to address this issue.”
Here is a quick look at some statistics associated with these new measures in the East Lake Neighborhood:
Within the boundary of this program, city officials have identified 27 structures for condemnation, 64 housing violations, and have demolished 7 homes in this 80-day time period since the program started.
Additionally, there have been 182 lots cut, 437 bags of litter collected, 607 tons of debris removed and 137 potholes repaired.
There have been 9 four-way stops signs installed, 2 streets paved, 7 speed cushions installed and 13 crosswalks have received new striping.
And perhaps most importantly, 19 firearms have been seized, 559 traffic citations written, 5 Drug, Nuisance and Abatement cases have been brought against problematic residencies, and 140 Criminal arrests have been made in the neighborhood in the last 80 days.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Council also voted to set a public hearing for November 12th at the Birmingham City Council meeting to consider extending the pilot program and/or permanently vacating the rights-of-way for the East Lake Safe Streets boundary.
ITEM 17
The City has received a $5 million federal grant to help address homelessness in Birmingham. This will specifically go towards creating housing and wrap around services for people experiencing homelessness.
Currently, the City is seeking requests for qualifications from developers and once that window is closed and a developer is selected, the City will identify an under-utilized property that will be the site of this new housing development. These will be non-congregant units for individuals and is a separate initiative from the Home For All pallet shelter program that was previously approved by the Council.
