On Monday night (September 23rd), Alabama State Representative and retired Assistant Chief of Police of the Birmingham Police Department Allen Treadaway talked with Greg Davis on Priority Talk Radio to discuss the Saturday night shooting in Birmingham’s Five Points South that killed 4 and wounded at least 17. He offered his condolences to the affected families, and was grim in his thoughts concerning crime in the future:
“It seems like more and more these are happening, and unfortunately you are probably going to see more and more of them happen,” Treadaway said.
He pointed to the fact that the Birmingham Police Department is very understaffed, and this negatively impacts their ability to prevent crime before it happens, limit the damage when it happens, and bring criminals to justice after the fact. He says that this issue is now a “crisis,” and he has been vocal about it for around a year at this point.
Unfortunately, as is usually the case after a shooting, many are seeking to blame guns for this heinous act that was committed by people. Rep. Treadaway would direct people instead to the fact that he believes the Birmingham police force is around 350 officers short of being fully staffed, which emboldens criminals when they know there is a lack of police presence in certain areas. Police officers are overworked and burnt out, and criminals are not being caught in many of these homicide cases.
Greg Davis then asked about the factors that helped to cause the current policing situation. Allen Treadaway mentioned the societal demonization of the police profession as a whole, changes in policing strategy and emphasis, and a lack of funding as a few of the causes.
“If you don’t put more officers on the street, you are going to see more of what we saw the other night. It is preventable… Crime needs to be addressed, because the citizens who live in these areas feel like they are prisoners in their own home, and we have to stop that trend. It’s going to take a commitment from the elected officials to change course with the type of policies that they have implemented that have proven to be disastrous.”
Other topics covered in the conversation include the possible criminal motivations behind these shootings, the idea that banning Glock switches will help prevent shootings, the economic impact of these events, and more. To listen to the entire conversation, click here.