3 days ago
Some hoping for new Walker County sheriff to be elected after Nick Smith indicted
JASPER, Ala. (WIAT) — The Walker County community has mixed feelings about the arrest and indictment of Sheriff Nick Smith.
'It's really, really disturbing in a way,' said Gordon Warren, who moved from Birmingham to the county with his wife about 10 years ago.
Warren said a new sheriff is needed.
'I'm voting for anybody but Nick Smith, and that's a bad way to run politics,' Warren said. 'But I've voted most of my life for the lesser of two evils and right now, he's a major evil. I was actually happy to vote for him when he first ran. I mean he talked the same talk that I wanted to listen to. He was doing some things that sounded like it was the appropriate things to do, and then this thing blew up on him.'
Though a CBS 42 crew spent around three hours out in the community, many of the people who spoke to the station were not comfortable going on camera because they did not want the sheriff's office to retaliate against them.
Ryan Cagle is a well-known figure in the community. He co-founded the Justice for Tony Mitchell group and is co-director of the Jubilee House Community, a nonprofit. Cagle said these are long-standing concerns in the area regarding the sheriff's office.
23-year-old former Walker County deputy pleads guilty in case involving death of Anthony 'Tony' Mitchell
'There is a culture here of feeling unsafe,' Cagle said. 'That those who are charged with serving and protecting our communities, we don't really know who they serve and protect. Whose interest does it serve to have an uncertified person in a school? It doesn't serve those children. It doesn't serve the school board. It doesn't serve our families. It serves a campaign. It serves those kinds of things, and so I think there's a lot of fear of retaliation. There's a lot of fear of being bullied, of being intimidated.'
Smith made a statement on Facebook regarding the indictments. He claimed they are politically motivated. The statement reads as follows:
'Approximately one month ago, I stated that I was very disappointed that our District Attorney's Office was drawn into the politics of the Walker County Sheriff's race. That was when a contempt petition was filed against me and my office, despite the fact that I had already provided the information I was alleged to have been withholding that was subject to a subpoena. That petition was dismissed 28 minutes after I filed my response.
'Today, the business of the Walker County Sheriff's Department was again interrupted by the District Attorney's Office. The District Attorney's Office sought out and obtained an indictment against me and my Chief Deputy.
'I have been embroiled with the Walker County Commission and the Walker County Civil Service Board over who I can hire and who I can fire. I recently filed a lawsuit against both entities to reclaim the ability to make my own hiring and firing decisions. Surprisingly, today's indictment is against me for having employed School Resource Officers at several of our County Schools. This is not the result of any complaints regarding the behavior of any School Resource Officer. In fact, one of the men I am charged with having worked as a School Resource Officer received special recognition from the Walker County Board of Education for his efforts in stopping what had the potential to be a very bad situation.
'I have been charged with having non-APOSTC certified personnel operating vehicles and working in certain capacities while wearing Sheriff Department uniforms. There can be no doubt that the District Attorney is now charging me to help his friend's campaign for Sheriff. The District Attorney was made aware of employees of JC Poe working in similar capacities at the Jasper Police Department. Charges have not been pursued against him by the District Attorney. Instead, he was called and told that he needed to make some changes, which he did on the very day I sent a message to the District Attorney.
'Vehicles of the Jasper Police Department were restriped to meet APOSTC compliance. If I was doing something wrong, why was I not afforded the same telephone call?
'The charges against me are administrative in nature and do not carry any jail time. However, I take these charges very seriously. This lawfare should stop. Criminal charges should not be used to try to influence national elections, and criminal charges should not be used to try to influence the local Sheriff's race. I intend to vigorously defend these charges.
'I did not play a role in either of the District Attorney's campaigns. He should remove himself from mine.'
The post garnered hundreds of comments from the community. While some call for Smith to directly answer whether he knowingly hired non-Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission certified officers, others offer their support for the sheriff.
The Walker County Board of Education said its superintendent was out of the office Monday and unable to talk about the four SROs who were not APOSTC certified. The board said the superintendent, Dennis Willingham, would call back Tuesday morning when he returned to work.
'You're going to have people who have been kind of neutral who have, again, maybe been holding hope that something was different with the Tony case, and that I think are going to be like, 'My baby, my child was put at risk,' and that trust was broken,' Cagle said. 'I do hope that at the very least this will begin to shift people's attention and make them think a little more critically about the situation and about this upcoming election.'
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