Public Safety Legislation Looks to be on Agenda for Upcoming Legislative Session

January 21, 2025 - The year 2024 was a violent one in Alabama. With the high amount of crime across the state, particularly, in the large metropolitan areas, local officials could not solve the problems alone. It is now up to Alabama leaders to tackle public safety issues that have not been solved at the local level.

There are a multitude of reasons for the violence in this country, including what has happened across the country with new no bail laws and the release of prisoners across the country during the pandemic. However, another problem has been the recruitment of police officers. Morale is down which has lead to fewer men and women patrolling the streets because of the constant criticism of law enforcement. The city of Birmingham alone has been down hundreds of officers, which has been part of the equation leading to record homicides in the city that had not been reached in almost 100 years.

The good news is that there is already talk of lawmakers taking up legislation to address the crime problem in Alabama. Bills that would expand the use of metro area crime suppression units, which would include both state and local officers to put more law enforcement on the street looks to be introduced early in the session. One such unit, the Montgomery task force, has been successful in removing criminals from the streets. The effective partnership between these law enforcement officers from all levels of government in the state will be an important part of creating more public safety in the state.

In addition to looking at putting more police on the streets, the state representatives and senators need to also look at the felons who are repeat offenders. Over and over again, those with long rap sheets are committing the most violent of crimes. The reason is that we see too many short sentences by judges or weak plea deals by some prosecutors that put them back on the streets. Thus, state legislators have to tackle what is going on in the courthouses and not just policing. When sentences are handed down at the federal level, felons have to serve the majority of their sentences. Alabama needs to reform its sentencing laws to mirror what is happening at the federal courts to require truth in sentencing. We have to put a halt to the same felons who are committing so much havoc in Alabama.

There has to be a comprehensive look at the Alabama criminal justice system to really solve the violence in our state.

Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He can be found on X, formerly Twitter, at @Paul_DeMarco

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/or publishers.