By Alaina Bookman | AL.com
Alaina Bookman reports for the “Beyond the Violence” collaborative, a partnership between AL.com, The Birmingham Times and CBS42.
On Tuesday, Mayor Randall Woodfin and retired Lt. Gen. A. C. Roper, the former chief of the Birmingham Police Department, gave more details during a Kiwanis Club of Birmingham event about the new violence prevention commission that was unveiled last month.
So far this year, there have been 135 homicides in Birmingham. Amid a rise in violent crime that may result in the city breaking its tragic homicide record, Woodfin recently appointed local business, community and criminal justice leaders to an advisory board – the crime commission – to reduce homicides in the metro area.
The commission is still in its early stages, but Woodfin said it is one step of many toward a safer Birmingham.
“Gun violence is a public health crisis in our nation…we refuse to rest on our laurels,” Woodfin said. “The key to a safer Birmingham lies in collaboration, the coming together of like minds and shared experiences to create a game plan to effectively address crime, particularly gun violence.”
The commission is putting together a report to present to the mayor aimed at determining what steps need to be taken to curb violence throughout the city. The commission features a community input team, criminal justice evaluation team and national models and data team.
The crime commission’s advisory board includes Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway, Alabama Power Vice President Ralph Williams, Regions Bank Executive Vice President Leroy Abrahams, Renasant Bank Chief Community Development and Corporate Social Responsibility Officer Tracey Morant Adams and Jefferson County Health Officer David Hicks.
“We look at the vast wealth of resources in our community, those individuals recognized for not only their thought leadership, creative approaches to complex problems and mainly a love of our city,” Woodfin said. “Then we took a page from Mayor Arrington when basically a similar crisis in the past created a crime commission to bring viable solutions to the table.”
During the Kiwanis Club event, Roper spoke to the members about his experience in the Army, his work on the police force and his hope for the future of Birmingham with the new crime commission.
“Empathy, understanding and addressing the needs of those you lead and those you impact is absolutely critical…We wanted to meet people right where they were, and engage and hear their concerns. And that’s one of the things that we’re doing with the crime commission,” Roper said.
He hopes the commission is one step toward making Birmingham the safest city in America.
“I think the stars are aligned for us to make transformational change,” Roper said. “And each of us have a role to play in that.”
