Alabama House committee approves bill allowing governor, AG to appoint local police chiefs

An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill that would allow state officials to appoint the leaders of local police departments.

HB 14, sponsored by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, would allow the governor and attorney general to appoint a local police chief if they determine there is an ongoing public safety risk. 

“It was a fair, valid question about ‘Why don’t we just do both to give it a little more meat and to make sure that everybody’s on the same page?’” Ingram said.

The legislation has drawn opposition from city officials and legislators, who say it is government overreach that would allow chiefs appointed under the law to operate without local oversight. 

The bill requires the governor’s office and attorney general’s office to review crime statistics relevant to the area and consult with the local district attorney’s office, the sheriff’s office and crime victims before declaring an emergency. Staffing at a local police department must also be 30% off average staffing levels over the prior ten years. Many police departments in the state are dealing with staffing issues and struggling to attract recruits. 

The legislation was amended after a public hearing in Tuesday’s committee meeting to limit the intervention to six months, with the possibility of returning after another six-month period. The amendment also requires the governor and the attorney general to agree to intervention.  As originally filed, the bill only required one of the two officials to decide to intervene.

“Six months they’re out. They can’t come back in for another six months,” Ingram said.

But opponents of the legislation said they remained wary of political influence. 

“I just still have concerns that there’s no criteria, and it could be an arbitrary use of power at the executive level,” said Rep. Kelvin Datcher, D-Birmingham.

Reed said that this bill is a temporary way to address violence and that Gov. Kay Ivey’s office is working on another bill that would provide a more permanent solution, including funding for a permanent task force.

“This was just a temporary fix, since we had so much problems here, along with the city, the county and the state, that worked on that,” he said, though he did not specify the local governments.

The bill now heads to the full House for further consideration.