"In five years Baldwin County will have a quarter million residents. In twelve years, Baldwin will surpass Mobile County in population. At the rate of growth, Baldwin is already adding an elementary school a year and two new high schools are on the drawing board," Mack stated. The point? Growth! Baldwin is a growing county. It encompasses twelve incorporated municipalities, each with local control. "Under Alabama law each local unit of government exercises considerable power granted by the legislature. The County, on the other hand, is under state level control, although Baldwin County does have 'limited home rule.'" From a practical standpoint, municipalities can take police and emergency-related jurisdiction 1.5 miles beyond their city limits (3 miles beyond for "big" cities), and this is the cause of much news related to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department in recent weeks.
The situation is something like this. Municipalities can take jurisdiction, which means that the annexed territory no longer receives police protection from the county. That is no problem, because the law enforcement network is integrated. When there is a change in jurisdiction, however, accommodations are made. What people fail to understand is that municipalities that take jurisdiction can also "give it back" to the county. That law enforcement network then has to be re-aligned, which takes time. In essence, some time back Foley did exactly that by undoing portions of its jurisdiction. The impact on the county was major. In terms of 911 and other integrated services, 12,000 households had to be reprogrammed for computer coordination purposes. It took three months to do. When Summerdale a few weeks ago did the same thing as Foley, it gave the Sheriff's Department only seven days notice to adjust to similar changes. That was negotiated-up to two weeks, but it took considerable overtime fees for the county to accomplish the new integration of services. Then comes the difficulties with a sick Silverhill Police Chief and more law enforcement reprogramming. And don't forget that Magnolia Springs is newly incorporated.
The Baldwin County Sheriff's Department is responsible for "picking up the slack" that municipalities don't cover. It is complex. The last legislative session did help counties like Baldwin to some extent. It authorized municipalities to contract with local people for law enforcement services. This permits a municipality to contract with a county unit like the Sheriff's Department while having local people in the town. The effect is that the town and the county share an officer. On one level, this would appear to simplify some of the logistic problems with municipalities opting in and out of law enforcement coverage.
In a time when the crime rate is inching up in Baldwin County with 2% of the population in jail, "we need 13 more deputies right now," Mack notes. "We support smaller agencies, but crime is felt to be a 'local' concern with the Sheriff's Department getting referrals." Jails--there are eight of them in the county--are the most expensive item in a safety and security budget, accounting for 50% of Department costs.
Although there are 300 police in Baldwin County on one level or another, services are not evenly divided. In the case of the Sheriff's Department, there is a presence in Bay Minette, Foley Court House, Fairhope Court House, Robertsdale, Lillian (volunteer development), and Stapleton (training facility). The state police are present in Baldwin County, but it is a combination of 16 different state-level agencies. There are only nine troopers in Baldwin, primarily to do traffic. "We need two and a half times as many troopers," the Sheriff notes, "because of our population.”
Sheriff Mack fielded a variety of questions, reviewed how bail and bond conditions are set, and discussed how Alabama's uniform sentencing guidelines are applied. He was hosted by Zion Lutheran Church’s “Men’s 710” at its monthly breakfast and speaker fellowship for August. Zion Lutheran Church is located a block off State Highway 104 at 15875 4th Avenue at 7th Street in beautiful Silverhill.
