Largest County in Alabama Closes All Courthouses, Deputies Cant Respond to Accidents

If you get into a traffic accident in Jefferson County, dont wait for any sheriff deputies to show up, because they wont.

Sheriff Mike Hale: Jefferson County deputies no longer to respond to traffic accidents

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale will formally notify the Alabama Department of Public Safety today that sheriff's deputies no longer will respond to traffic accidents beginning Saturday

"We just will not have the resources after Saturday to have personnel tied up at traffic accident sites," Hale said. "The little coverage we have will be dedicated to crime fighting."

Hale has announced plans to reduce his employees to a 32-hour work week -- a 20 percent pay cut -- to make up for a $3 million reduction to his budget.

I dont believe that compares to what the article below says.

Jefferson County Courthouses will Close

Birmingham Al. (WIAT)- The Jefferson County Commission is cutting around 1000 jobs and some of them include the security officers at the courthouses.

Judge Scott Vowell says it’s those cuts that are prompting them to shut down all the courthouses. Starting June 27th the courthouses will no longer hold any trials and that means that people could be denied their constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Thats right. ALL courthouses. This is Alabama's most populous county.

The judge is hoping to come up with a solution to keep the courthouses open, but with the sheriff’s office having to cut around 150 deputies, it could be a difficult task.

I dont really know what to say. No fair and speedy trial anymore I guess? The economy is so bad now, that we have to give up more rights?

good start with the clowns with guns and badges

then go for the corrupt politicians

If they aren't going to do anything then fire them all and save a bigger bundle.

More government workers that do nothing but collect pay checks because their budgets got cut.

reply to post by buni11687


i bet they still issue speeding tickets and other fines..
Gotta keep us safe on the roads.

Wait, why are sheriff deputies responding to traffic reports? Is this an Alabama thing?
Most places that I know of, the regular patrolmen do traffic duty.

reply to post by dethduck

Wait, why are sheriff deputies responding to traffic reports? Is this an Alabama thing?

Im not sure. I live in an unincorporated area and the sheriffs are the ones that come to traffic accidents here. (I dont live in Alabama though).

Maybe the deputies were responding to accidents in the middle-of-nowhere kind of places. The OP article said they respond to 5,000-6,000 accidents a year, which I dont think is alot compared to other places.

Heres a little video about some of the reasons for the budget deficits



In 2002, Jefferson County took out a loan (pretty much a subprime one) from JP Morgan to fix their sewer system at $250 million, which turned into a $5 billion dollar debt after some years. Of course the bank got bailed out, but not the county.

This is actually good news to some people. Less government power, more people power. If government is getting less funds, there will be less government.

This might all be a blessing in disguise to some.

Could this be the motif here?

reply to post by dethduck


Yeah here in AL if an accident or a felony is committed outside city limits, the county has jurisdiction. I guess the state troopers will take over for the county. Birmingham being the largest city in AL is in Jefferson county so thats a pretty big deal down here.

Originally posted by Truther9111776
good start with the clowns with guns and badges

then go for the corrupt politicians

If you get into an accident there, good luck getting insurance to do anything without an accident report. Try thinking ahead someday.

/TOA