Nearly two dozen homicide suspects have been arrested since May in a new initiative by the Birmingham Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.
As the city continues to battle a deadly rise in crime, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has directed police officials to continue to find new ways to deal with an old problem.
“We’re always looking at how to strategize, how to be more effective at what we do,’’ said Police Chief Scott Thurmond, “and how to provide a safer environment for all of our citizens.”
Thurmond and Northern District of Alabama U.S. Marshal Marty Keely held a press conference Thursday to discuss the most recent crime-fighting strategy. They were flanked by more than a dozen other law enforcement and government leaders.
Thurmond said police know there’s historically an uptick in crime in the summer months. So, they formulated a plan to combat the onslaught.
“Where we’ve had success before is getting offenders off the streets before they can continue to reoffend,’’ he said. “The people who are the best at making those arrests are our partners at the U.S. Marshals Service.”
Birmingham police Chief Scott Thurmond, U.S. Marshal Marty Keely and other law enforcement and government leaders discuss the latest crime-fighting initiative in the city.(Carol Robinson)
In the Birmingham area, the U.S. Marshals Service includes the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
“We wanted to target those who are the most prolific violent offenders, and in doing that we compiled a list of those offenders,’’ the chief said.
The result so far, Thurmond said, has been the arrests of 26 people since May 10 who were wanted in homicides.
Those names have not been released, but Thurmond said not all those arrests were suspects sought in Birmingham cases. They could have been murder suspects wanted in other jurisdictions throughout Jefferson County and even in other states.
There has been a total of 121 felony arrests – including the 23 homicide suspects. Of those 121, 21 people were wanted for robbery, 22 for sexual assaults and 17 for aggravated assault.
During that time, Thurmond said, authorities seized 20 guns.
“We may have someone from another state who is here and if they committed a murder in another state, what are they going to do here?,’’ he said. “So, we want to get them off the streets, get our victims some justice and get some peace for our community members. It’s a lot bigger picture.
“If those individuals had been allowed to be on the streets of Birmingham, what would crime have been like if they had been allowed to continue to do what they do every day?” Thurmond said. “I honestly believe this had had an impact on the safety of citizens in Birmingham.”
Keely said the initiative is ongoing.
“This doesn’t stop today,’’ he said. “They’re on the streets at this very moment …doing everything they can to reduce violent crime and take the individuals responsible for violent crime off the streets.”
Prior to the press conference, there was an hour-long, private summit of people from all areas of law enforcement, city and county government, and beyond to discuss public safety issues and the root causes of crime.
“You can’t arrest your way out of everything,’’ Thurmond said. “There are some other things that have to take place in order for us to provide a safer city.”
“This group and many others are committed to doing that,’’ he said. “As one of our colleagues said in the meeting, it takes time. We didn’t get here overnight and, unfortunately, we’re not going to get out of this overnight.”
