Alabama AG honors fallen officers in talk at Chamber luncheon

May 18—In a speech before community leaders in Moody, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall honored fallen Alabama police officers.

Marshall specifically referenced each officer killed in 2022 and 2023 by name and occupation, and mentioned slain Moody officer Sgt. Stephen Williams, who was shot in the line of duty in 2020.

"Next Monday is the day that we honor our fallen officers. It's a week in which we recognize the role that law enforcement has in our community. Y'all have specifically felt the loss here, when Stephen Williams was tragically killed a few years ago. So, you know exactly what that looks like and you know exactly what that loss means," Marshall said in the beginning of his nearly thirty-minute-long speech during the Moody Chamber of Commerce Luncheon.

Marshall's speech Thursday, May 11, came just a few days before the beginning of National Police Week.

"I want to spend a little bit of time today talking about and honoring those in Alabama that we have lost and then talk around the area of criminal justice, and the things I think we can do as a state to be able to keep our communities safer," Marshall continued.

In his speech, Marshall recounted the fatal shooting of Huntsville police officer Garrett Crumby in late March of this year. The 36-year-old officer was shot and killed while he and his partner were responding to a domestic violence call. His partner, officer Albert Morin, was also shot and spent several days in the hospital in critical condition.

According to Marshall, in 2022, Alabama lost nine police officers in the line of duty. Six of those were victims of COVID-19, two were in automobile crashes and one died by gunfire.

"I do want to be able to acknowledge each of them, because I think it's important to continue to honor those memories," Marshall said.

The following officers are the ones Marshall listed in a list of fallen officers in 2022:

Madison County investigator Steve Finley; Hanceville Police Department Lt. Kevin Pounders; Dekalb County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Bobbitt; Cherokee County Sheriff's Department Cpl. Keith Morgan; Cedar Bluff Police Sgt. Christopher Vaughn; Vestavia Hills officer Darryl Fortner; Bibb County Sheriff Deputy Bradley Johnson; Mount Vernon Police officer Ivan Mauricio Lopez; and Heflin Police K9 Beni.

"That's nine officers who not only served their community, but we also need to remember they were husbands, they were fathers, they were sons, they were friends to so many, and we know that when we lose an officer, that is a loss for the community as a whole," Marshall continued. "We focus on those that we lost, but we are fortunate... four other officers that were shot in the line of duty survived. We're fortunate on that front."

Further into his speech, Marshall commented on the challenges that law enforcement officers and their families face. He also commended the hard work of law enforcement officers in their daily jobs, including the officers involved in solving a 24-year-old cold case in Ozark, which resulted in an arrest for the murders of 17-year-old J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett.

"Two weeks ago we were able to get justice for two families that have waited an awful long time," Marshall said. "It wouldn't have happened if we didn't have dedicated professionals doing that work."

Marshall then spoke on rising crime rates in the nation and "the lack of respect for law enforcement."

"That's problematic. We are struggling right now to get men and women to come into the profession. Not because anything about what we do or those who are called have really changed, It has a lot to do with the fact that people don't respect in — many communities — the work that law enforcement does in the same way," Marshall said.

Marshall continued his speech by saying that the media often condemns the "bad apples."

"If you really dive into the data, for every example of what law enforcement wouldn't support — George Floyd being one of them — if you counted the number of times law enforcement makes contact with individuals, the number of encounters we have with the community, those bad apples are an infinitesimal number of the men and women of law enforcement," Marshall said.

Marshall continued by saying the majority — 99.9 percent — of encounters with law enforcement are "lawful" and that it is oftentimes the 0.01 percent that people want to talk about.

"That's unfair. It's not right. But it makes for good TV," Marshall said.

Marshall went on to stress the importance of staffing police departments and funding mental health and addiction recovery efforts in the state to lead to better outcomes in communities.

"We know that fentanyl is coming from Mexico," Marshall said. "We are going to continue to see the loss of life on our streets. Birmingham is already at, I think, 200 overdose deaths, most of that is going to be attributed to fentanyl... Fentanyl is completely taking over in a way that we've never really seen before."

Marshall said we have to "do more than just enable officers to do their jobs" we have to "help on the mental health side."

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 41 percent of Alabama adults sought medical treatment for a mental health issue between 2017-2019.

"As we talk about National Police Week, many of those who are taking the lives of many in law enforcement are struggling with addiction and mental illness," Marshall said.

Marshall said that Alabama now has close to $200 million to try to address the current opioid issue. That money is being divided between the state and local municipalities.

Marshall ended his speech by thanking the law enforcement officers in the crowd.

"I can't thank my friends in law enforcement enough for what they do," Marshall said to the police officers in attendance at the luncheon. "Thank you for letting me be your voice. It is the most remarkable privilege that anyone can ever be given. I hope I use that and exercise that in a way that makes you proud."

Moody Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Andrea Machen closed out the event by informing the crowd that the Chamber dedicates their May luncheon to local law enforcement every year.