Violent weekend in Birmingham: what’s being done to stop the violence?
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - It’s something that we seem to be saying too often on Mondays: “Another violent weekend in Birmingham.”
Since Friday afternoon, two people have died in homicides. Another was killed in an officer-involved shooting. Police say that individual fired on an officer.
All of this, as the city is trying to cut down on crime.
City leaders will be the first to tell you Birmingham’s crime problem didn’t happen overnight, and neither will its solution.
City Councilor Hunter Williams, who is also the Chairman of the Public Safety committee, says Police Chief Patrick Smith has implemented a number of changes.
He took over the department almost a year ago.
A big one was combining the city’s homicide and robbery units. Doing that, Williams says has increased the number of crimes solved by about 20 percent.
On the prevention side, the department is doing things like “Peace in the Park,” and other things to try and make those connections in the community. They want to show residents they have a responsibility too.
“Right now in Birmingham we still see the same no snitch policy that was around last year. Was around 10 years ago. The Birmingham Police department is only going to be as strong as the community that rallies around it. So we need people to call in and let us know what they saw,” said Williams.
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