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All right, so first school day is cheap. How are you feeling? I'm feeling good. I'm feeling, uh, enthused uh done *** precinct visit, um, had *** good energy there at North Precinct. Uh, we were discussing the world games that are, uh, coming up as it relates to police, world police and fire games, uh, and we have some officers that are very interested in participating. OK, awesome and so you've been with BPD 20 years now, 20 plus years, 20 plus years? Correct. And you're from Birmingham. So first of all, when you became *** police officer with BPD, did you ever see yourself becoming chief? I never saw myself becoming, to be honest with you, no. And. Hm, that's *** good question, I suppose, but um. When you think about becoming *** police officer, I don't think you think about becoming chief. I know *** lot of times as *** child when you pick up basketball or baseball you definitely see pros on TV all the time in the NBA and MLB, uh, and that's what you aspire to become, but, um, at that time I didn't, I didn't think about actually being the chief. I just really wanted to be *** cop. You know, uh, when I was introduced to some, some good officers when I was around the age of 2021, when I was *** younger kid, I, I didn't think about being *** police officer, um, I went to school, uh, with, I don't know, maybe business in mind wanting to be an entrepreneur, uh, but because I ran into some really good influential police officers around that age of 2021 years old, I. They, they, they uh encouraged me and influenced me to become *** police officer. And being that you're from Birmingham, what's it like being the police chief in the city that you grew up in? Um It's good. I think I understand the city. I have *** pulse for the city. I understand the people, how they move, what makes them tick, so I think that helps me out in my role. OK, uh, in your role, well, first in wrong, but now as cheap you will continue that 8 point crime reduction, ma'am, uh, *** month ago. Uh, how's that going? What's the update on that? So it's going well, so I wanna say out of the 8 points. Approximately 5 of them are are going strong right now. Uh, we are working with the ATF on one of those items and, uh, as it relates to the straw purchases as it relates to uh the trafficking of illegal weapons and now the trafficking of Glock switches and other machine gun conversion devices, those are, uh, investigations that will take *** little bit longer time to see the the the fruits or the results from that, but, uh, most of them are, are in motion at this point. And then one thing you mentioned earlier was about having that early connection with police officers in your twenties right you said it, um, that's where I guess pack comes into play, um, these kids, you know, being around police officers just tell us why bring that back and then add it in the now 8 because initially it was 7. So yeah, so that's really important because. As *** person and especially as *** child, you don't know, uh, if you don't know about something, if you're not exposed to it, if you're not aware of it, you don't know that's something that you should attain or or or shoot for or aim for. So just having our children be exposed to hey this is an opportunity this is something that you can enjoy other than you know basketball, sports, music, uh, and then other uh honorable careers such as being, you know, doctors and judges and things of that nature, they need to know that uh being *** police officer is something is is it's an option and it's *** good option and it's an option that you can actually have *** *** direct and immediate impact on your community. And then of the 8, you said 5 are doing very well. Um, can you talk more about the stolen vehicle task force? I'm glad you mentioned that. So yeah, so we actually had *** meeting yesterday with Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Mark Mark Petway and his team. Uh, we had an outstanding meeting, so in that meeting we went over, uh, you know, the, the causes why are people wanting to steal the vehicles, how do they use them, what are the methods, their strategies, so we're, we're doing the beginning stages in any plan you have to do your research first you gotta get down to the root cause of it, you gotta learn the methods of it and then we can talk about how to prevent it and curb it. So currently you all are in the data research phase how long do you think that it will eventually launched? Well, I would say We're aiming to go ahead and get on the operational side of it within the probably within the next month. And then the feedback from the sheriff's office, I mean, and I also take it you're only working with other law enforcement outside of the county and Bernapp city, so that means other cities as well. Absolutely. So yeah, we're definitely uh open to discussing this plan I'm assuming you're talking about with the stolen vehicles, yes, uh, with, with other agencies. I actually talked to several other agencies on today, uh, inquiring about how many stolen vehicles they have for the year, uh. Some of them share very low numbers, but I said, hey, let's make sure we stay in conversation, uh, so that if you're seeing an uptick, if you're seeing any trend in your city, we may need to to get your uh auto theft folks in in the room with ours so we can talk about the trends and what you're seeing and and you know, more likely than not if they steal *** vehicle they'll travel to multiple cities throughout the county and we need to all be tracking on that vehicle. And um so there's the crime commission report made recommend. So under your leadership now certain things will have to change. So bear with me because I wrote some things down that they put in there. Um, one of them was restructuring the homicide unit to alleviate uh case load pressure and improve case outcomes. How's that looking currently for the police department and why do you think the commission group recommended that? I think they recommended it because apparently they're aware of some of the best practices and some of the things that um may need to be adjusted or improved uh I'm doing an internal assessment of the entire department, uh, not just homicide but throughout the entire department, but homicide being *** priority because of the, you know, it's always *** priority because it's it's an egregious crime, but especially on the heels of the year that we had last year. I'm doing *** deep dive with uh my deputy chief and my leadership of investigations Deputy Chief Jeff Brown as well as his team uh in investigations and we're looking at all the best ways we can improve on the processes. Uh, and the protocols of, of how that unit processes the scene, how they, uh, you know, do their entire investigation, and we're also working with, uh, our DA Danny Carr and his team to see, hey, are, are there any gaps? Are there any ways that we can improve on our processes so that when you all are prosecuting this in court, uh, we have the best outcome only for justice, you know, that's that's what we wanna see. And I'm glad you brought that up because that was another level um in the recommendation was improving officers courtroom readiness and working with the DA's office um where was that in the process, the development phase without in particular? Yeah, so we're having conversations with leadership at this time. So the leadership of the DA's office, myself and my leadership team, we've already started those conversations about uh what all we wanna cover with our detectives uh we're gonna talk to our detectives and see, hey, where, where do you all feel that you, you may need more training or not, uh, or just more guidance uh because we got some great. Outstanding homicide detectives, but we always wanna improve, we always wanna get better, you know, the crimes change methods change, um, and we always wanna stay on the front end, uh, of that, you know, so. OK, and then we've noticed uh *** ramp up in arrests, we're getting *** lot more release releases um and homicide arrests in particular so in this case, um, with the announcements, would you say that this is to avoid possibly showing. Those state legislators that might be in favor of the crime suppression unit, those state legislators in Montgomery, um, is this to show them that Birmingham police can run its own department and solve crime? No, so when I rolled out the 8 point crime plan, one of the things that I told the public is that we're gonna give you updates, we're gonna give you consistent updates, so that's me keeping my word, uh, that we're gonna deliver updates to the public and keep them informed on what we're doing. And then the special task forces that you mentioned, um, the press conference we held, I think on the March 10th you said it wasn't just BPD officers in this task force. So who's included in it and is it ran by the state? And, and which task force? Uh, this was the task force, I think at the time that made like 446. So that's the special enforcement teams. So that's, that's all Birmingham police officers, yeah, OK, so that's within the department. Yes ma'am. OK, um, and then. You know, this being *** member of the police department in the past, people who have sat in your seat now have faced scrutiny and lack of no or vote of no confidence. Are you concerned that people will do that to you? I can't worry about that uh if it happens it happens, but I'm, I'm not concerned about it. I'm here to do the job, um. I feel very confident and uh and and the people, the men and women that we have for the police department I think that what they uh need throughout their career is guidance is support is training that's ongoing um and the proper equipment to do their jobs and and my role is to to provide all of those things for them the right leadership so that they can be successful. And you've been around them already just tell us what the feeling is like for those who you may be shaking hands with and how they're reacting to you being chief now? Uh, it's, it's been *** very pleasant response. Um, I'm going to the precincts and throughout the department with an ear to listen, to see how can I be of service, how can I help, uh, what do you need? Um, I just left, like I said, North Precinct, and I got notes, uh, uh, in my pad right now of some things that I need to work on, um, for the department for our officers, so I love being able to be in the space where I can fight for our officers for the things that they need to to better do their jobs. And what makes you different from the other chiefs we've been around? What makes me different. Um, We're all cops, you know, and and we're all facing the challenge of leading *** *** lot of men and women, uh, civilian, uh, sworn, non sworn, um, and what's different. I would say that um. Well we've had some great police chiefs here at Birmingham. The only thing I can speak to is I'll bring *** certain energy. I'm not saying that they didn't because everybody has *** certain uh dynamic that works for them, but what I bring to the department is *** certain energy uh is is *** desire for excellence, um, and I'll try to work toward that. Anything innovative new, um, because being *** police officer 20 years ago. Oh, we'll be real quick like two more questions, um, being *** police officer and 20 years ago is completely different now, um, and you've got younger officers, so how do you still get them to come to work and still wanna do this. So you have to talk to them and learn what motivates them, but you also have to let them know that this is *** profession that's based in honor. Uh, that's based in service and you have to get them to understand the importance of that because it actually it is rewarding when you can help someone we can serve someone when you're when you're *** part of *** *** good dynamic team it feels good and it's rewarding to you so we try to just emphasize some of those core values of being *** police officer and I believe that goes *** long way. And these are the last two, they work hand in hand. Um, are you committed to staying on as police chief? Yes, ma'am, I am. OK. And where do you see Birmingham in the next 5, 10 years under your leadership? Uh, I see Birmingham being *** safer city. Uh, I see Birmingham having *** police department that is, um, intelligence led and data driven, uh, that supports this officers so that we can be *** better service to the community. Anything else you wanna add? I think we're good. Thank you so much. I just like 2 seconds to escape.