By Mike Cason
A bill to make it a crime to misrepresent the boundaries of a municipality’s police jurisdiction, such as by moving signs or markers, won approval today in an Alabama House committee.
Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, introduced the bill in response to reports of police abuses in Brookside, a town of about 1,200 people in her Jefferson County district.
Among the complaints from people who have had run-ins with Brookside police are that they were pulled over and charged outside the town’s jurisdiction.
Givan’s bill says a public official who instructs another person to mispresent the police jurisdiction would be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail.
The bill has bipartisan support and 11 co-sponsors from the Jefferson County area.
It won approval today in the House Judiciary Committee. That puts it in position for consideration in the House.
Starting in about 2018, Brookside set up a traffic ticket trap that increased revenues from fines and forfeitures by 640 percent. Police chief Mike Jones and six other officers have resigned since AL.com began reporting on the problems.
Givan has held two town hall meetings in which drivers and Brookside residents have complained of mistreatment by officers.
Givan has also demanded the resignations of town attorney Mark Parnell, town judge Jim Wooten, and Mayor Mike Bryan. All three have said they will not.