From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

It was a busy week in the nation's capital, to say the least, including on legislatio that directly impacts Alabama.

President Trump's big budget bill has moved to the Senate.

But now, his former supporter and quasi employee, Elon Musk, has turned on the president and is bashing the massive tax and spending bill.

Our own Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill on how Alabama's senators ar involved in those negotiations.

President Trump is standing firm behind his so-called big beautiful bill, despite Elon Musk now calling i an abomination on social media.

Their feud erupted in public Thursday.

Musk argues the legislation will add to the country's deficit.

Look, Elo and I had a great relationship.

I don't know if well, anymore.

Senator Tommy Tuberville is also brushing of Musk's concerns about the bill.

The problem that Elon Musk looks at, I look at it different.

Number one, the way to grow this country is to get the tax cuts done.

And the tax cuts are in this bill, and we need to make them permanent.

The US Senate is currently working on that legislation to extend Trump's tax cut and cut billions from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to offset those cuts.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Offic estimates the bill will add $2.4 trillion to the US deficit over the next decade.

But Tuberville remains confident the bill is the right move.

Though he told me on Tuesda that he's a may be on the bill because he has to see what changes are made in the Senate before a vote.

There's a lot of lipstick that we have to put on this pig, and there's a lot of thing in there that that are really, really good and there's some things that are very questionable.

Fellow Alabama Senator Katie Britt is also supportive of the legislation.

She says in a statement, quote, the one big, beautiful bill will deliver historic tax cuts and real savings for millions of Americans, end quote.

The Congressional Budget Office also estimates nearly 11 million people will lose health insurance under the bill.

Advocates like Debbie Smith with Cover Alabama worry the Medicaid cuts, along with the expiration of the Affordable Care Act.

Premium tax credits leave Alabamians lives in jeopardy.

50 plus organizations sent a letter to Governor Kay Ivey this week warning about the cuts.

We can't afford more uninsured people, you know, showing up at the E.R.

and causing more unconscious compensated care cost and hospitals having to eat up those costs.

Our hospitals just cannot afford it.

Any changes that are made to the bill in the Senate will have to be sent back to the House for a vote, which could prove difficult with the GOP razor thin majority.

Republicans hope to get the final bill to Trump's desk by July 4th.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Engle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you Alex.

Back here in Montgomery this week, Governor Kay Ivey appointed State Representative Cynthi Lee Allman as the next president of the public service Commission.

The Tuscaloosa attorney is filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Twinkle Cavanaugh, who stepped down to take a role with the Trump administration as PSC president.

Allman will lead the three person panel responsible for regulating utilities in Alabama.

The Public Service Commission appointmen is effective Monday, June 16th, which is when the governo will swear her in as president.

And congratulations to Representative Allman.

Of course, we will miss her here in the legislature, but we look forwar to having her on in her new role on the show soon.

It has been another bus week of candidate announcements, as those seeking public office try to get ahead of the competition in the 2026 election cycle.

Let's take a look at those announcing for statewide office this week.

State Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate has announced he will run for lieutenant governor.

Pate has served two terms as ad commissioner and is term limited.

He previously also served as the mayor of Landsborough.

Also running for lieutenant Governor is Nicole Wadsworth, an economic development professional who was also married to State Representative Tim Wadsworth.

That is becoming a pretty crowded race.

Former Associate Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell made it official this week.

He's running for attorney general.

Mitchell stepped dow from the court late last month in order to pursue to pursue the AG position.

State Treasurer Young Boozer announced that he'll run for reelection.

He's one of the few state officeholders who isn't term limited.

Boozer was first elected treasurer back in 2010 and served two terms.

He was then appointed to serve again in 2021 after the departure of John McMillan and Josh Pendergrast announced this week he'll run for State Auditor.

Pendergrast is a community leader, attorney and pastor from Prattville.

He previously worked for Governor Kay Ivey as our communications director last term.

And that's it for now that we are hardly finished seeing these announcements.

If we missed yours, just shoot me an email at T Stacey at AP tv.org.

This week, Chief Justice Sarah Stewart used a new law to appoint a retired judg to handle the case against a man for the 2019 killing of a Nigel Blanchard.

Blanchard is, of course, the college studen who was abducted and murdered.

The man accused of the crime Ibrahim Yazeed, was out on bail at the time, leading the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment preventing that to happen in the future.

It was called a Niles Law.

The appointment of the judge i the result of the speedy trial at which the legislature passed this session.

It allows the Chief Justice to appoint retired judges in violent cases to speed them up.

State Senator Will Barfoot was the sponsor of that bill.

The speedy trial bill, we passed that this past session.

I was just glad to be able to sponsor that piece of legislation, wor very closely with the Attorney General's office and Kathryn Robertson, within the office.

And that speedy trial bill allows for either the DA's offic or the attorney General's office to request, an extra judge or a different judge, an additional judge to a circuit where there might be a violent crime or violent crimes so that that judge could come in and continue to, make sure that they, prosecute those cases.

You've already seen that happen.

Now, the AG's office has asked for a judge to be appointed, I believe Judge Young over in Tallapoosa County on the now Blanchard case.

So we're already seeing the results and the benefits of that.

And I'm just very thankful for, the attorney General's office and Kathryn Robertson, along with Steve Marshall, working with us on that to get it passed.

It has been almost a year since the formation of the Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit.

A special partnership between state, local and federal law enforcement to tackle violent crime in the capital city.

This week, leaders gathered at the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce for an update on progress seen under that partnership.

Everybody's working really well together, and it's been it's been a lot more than that.

I think you ask these folks here, we work together a lot, but we have done a lot more than I think we thought we could do.

I think a year later, just some stats real quick read.

Yesterday we've had over 300 traffic stops served, 955 arrest warrants ranging from failure to appear to capital murder, made 415 arrests of individuals on various charges.

30 of those juvenile.

So these 257 firearm firearms confiscated, 164 Machine Gun Conversion Division two devices and recovered 65 stolen vehicles.

And that's less than a year.

Last year, this time, we were roughly about 300 murder cases pending.

And, and we would trial one there would be 2 or 3 happening.

I think police presence on the street is extremely important.

The criminals kno whether they know whether or not our numbers are down.

They know whether or not we are patrolling.

So I think, the suppressio unit has been very instrumental, for criminals, basically observing the fact that that we are back on their back on the streets we can't let them take control.

And so we have to have that presence.

So I'm very thankful, that that unit came together.

I'm very thankful for I know the sheriffs specifically are, doing things in the county that he has not done before.

But it's going to take all of us.

And, I'm just happy to be a part of the solution.

You may remember last legislative session, lawmakers passed a law allowing that kind of unit to be replicated in other cities.

And I'll talk in more detail about that crime suppression unit with Alea Captain Jeremy Burkett later in the show.

A new task force made up of state leaders, agency heads and criminal justice reform advocates is taking aim at Alabama's high recidivism rate.

The goal to improve the odds for people reentering society after leaving prison.

Capital Journals Jeff Sanders reports.

The Alabama Reentry Task Forc held its first meeting this week at the state House, launching a renewed and expanded effort to break the cycle of incarceration in Alabama's prisons.

How we deal with a population how we work with and accommodate a population that is leaving the justice system and going back into society, how we make sure they're successful in their reentry efforts.

The new task force replace the Reentry Alabama Commission, a group formed in 2021 to study barriers that formerly incarcerated people face.

That commission completed its work earlier this year.

And now the new task force is charged with implementing real world solutions, collaborating between executive judicial and legislative branch.

It really provides an opportune city that we don't see very often in this state because we're sharing information, sharing resources, and we're not worried about egos or turf.

Cam Ward chairs the task force and also directs Alabama's Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.

He says lasting change requires multiple state agencies working together.

Conversations can go a long way in achieving our goal of reducing recidivism to unde 15% by the end of this decade, if we were under 15% recidivism rate, we would actually be one of th top five states in the nation.

One of the Commission's Tom findings was the need for stronger mental health and substance abuse support.

Alabama mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell says those needs don't end at the prison gates.

I don't know how many state have mental health and substance use embedded in their day reporting centers, but Alabama does, which is pretty phenomenal.

Another key challenge is financial.

Many people released from prison still owe court fines and fees.

Chief Justice Sarah Stewart says that debt can create a cycle that's hard to escape.

It becomes something that affects their families, their ability to get jobs.

Their ability to hold on to any of the money that they, put in their pocket after they get the job.

That affects housing, that affects transportation.

And it becomes, kind of a never ending cycle that that they are that's really unsupportable and unsustainable.

And Stewart says involving the families of those preparing for release is essential to breaking the cycle of incarceration.

Studie showing a correlation between an incarcerated parent and a child going on to prison later.

So we've got to be able to get those people into the into the courtroom and then down to the services that the commissioner can provide as far as helping those families stay intact in and grow.

The task force will meet quarterly with subcommittees tackling housing, transportation licensing and workforce issues.

The goal making reentry a bridge to opportunity and not a path back to prison.

Reporting from the Statehouse in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

June is the official start of hurricane season, and officials are warning that this year could see above average tropical activity.

Capital journal' Randy Scott caught up with state and local emergency management officials for a reminder of how to be prepared if and when storms strike.

Here's his story.

Everywhere you look, you se evidence of the start of summer.

People are getting out to enjoy the warmer weather, but you have to also keep in mind the beginning of June is als the start of hurricane season.

We've got clear skies today by the weekend.

We're looking at a threat so pay attention to the weather.

Even though it's nice outside at summer.

You always have to pay attention to the weather.

John the block is the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, based in Birmingham.

He and his staff are already i watch mode tracking the skies.

We have hurricane season is on our doorstep right now.

The Gulf is clear and it's a great time to go visit Alabama's beaches.

You still have some other concerns.

So we have the tropical concern.

We're okay right now.

The temperatures are up.

Most schools are out.

For some, it means the start of vacation season.

For meteorologist, it mean the start of hurricane season.

But they also add any time there is severe weather, whether it be down in the Gulf or in mid Alabama.

Citizens need to pay attention.

The National Weather Service is watching for a number of conditions, including severe weather and tornadoes.

When you hear us talking about tornadoes, that bell should go off.

I need to be ready.

I need to know my plan, where I'm going to go and where I'm going to take my famil and the people I know and love.

What am I going to do to help keep them safe?

When that bell goes off for a tornado?

The block says they're keeping tabs on the rising summer heat and dangerous flooding.

Blue Sk is not not a care in the world, but that sun can be deadly.

So make sure you have your sunscreen on light colored clothing.

Remain well hydrated and certainly take breaks out of the sun when possible.

That water can rise quickly.

You know, so many times people see water in the roadway and they just don't know how deep it is.

Our saying there is, turn around, don't drown because you don't know if that roadway is intact.

It could be washed out.

There could be a ten foot deep gully in there.

And then at night it's even harder to tell.

John to Block says the best piece of advic for citizens is to stay ready.

Well, the success for bein prepared for severe weather is is just being that aware being aware and being prepared.

In Birmingham, Randy Scott Capital Journal.

Thank you, Randy, and we'll be right back with tonight's guests.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online any time at Alabama Public Television's website.

aptv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journal's Facebook page.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Wanda miller, executive director of Vocal Victims of Crime and Leniency.

Wanda thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it a lot to get to because you all had a very active session.

But I wanted you to remind our audience about the vocal and its mission here in the state.

Well, vocal was, formed as an agency in 1982, and it was formed out of a really horrendous crime that happened in Birmingham.

A young woman named Quinn.

She was murdered.

She was a Birmingham Southern student.

And after Wynette's murder, her family was thrown into a system that they knew nothing about.

After they went through many trials and, you know, investigations and and just thrown into a situation that they found just not to be not to be sensitive to victims, not to be sensitive to what they were going through which was the horrible loss of of a young woman, their daughter.

So after, after the trials and the convictions, Miriam, she quintet's mother, decided that she wanted to make some changes.

She wanted she wanted to make sure that people that came behind her did not suffer the same things that her family did that was so obvious to them.

So she joined with other crim victims who had lost children or family members, and they formed Fogel here in Montgomery.

It's a very important part of the conversation when it comes to, because during the session, we spent a lot of time looking at criminal law.

And not just that pardons and paroles, corrections, things like that.

So the voice for victims really is an important part of that conversation.

And this was a big session for that.

I mean, you had, the governor and legislative leadership really tackle crime and safety is their top priority.

Talk about y'all's session.

Lots went on.

I'll ask you first about some of the successes that you had.

I think probably the biggest success, legislative legislation that passed was the Speedy Trial Act because so many victims across the state, are waiting and waiting and waiting.

And, you know I talked to a family yesterday, and, you know, it's one delay after another.

Nobody's fault.

It's just the, you know there's a backlog on the docket.

There's, you know, there's mental evaluations that have to be done.

There's all these different things in the system that that families just don't understand.

And but this bill is going to, for instance, a not Blanchard's case.

You know, her family's, out of Birmingham.

I know her mom very well.

And I've watched her, you know over, over this period of time.

Every time she goes to court, it's a delay.

It's another delay in another delay.

And this legislation, it's going to help with that for other families.

Yeah.

And some immediate action this week.

And we were talkin earlier in the show about that.

I mean it's it's it's rarel do you see the law get enacted and immediately have an impact in terms of, what's going on over there.

We'll talk about some of your disappointment, some of the bills that maybe didn't get across the finish line or, or other bills that passed that y'all didn't support.

Well, one of the bill that we were really behind was, a bill that, regarded Alabama crime victims compensation.

This is one of the great things that we have here for crime victims from a financial standpoint.

And most people don't even think about how much crime cost the person who's harmed.

And so Alabama crime victims compensation is available to help with funeral costs and hospital expenses and counseling and lost wages and those sort of things.

But the downside to it is that you have a one year application period.

So one year after the crime that application must be filed.

And unfortunately, during tha first year, a lot of people just can't even think about those sort of things.

You're not thinking financial, they're not thinking filling out forms.

They're not thinking so what?

What crime victims compensation came up with was less exten that time period to two years.

And that was, you know that was a bill that, you know, should have passed with without any problem.

And it will next year.

I truly believe that.

Did it get kind of caught up in some of that backlog?

It got caught up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, at the end of the session I was thinking, I'm not sure what the objection would be to that.

There's really no objection.

It's just really a time frame.

And it would just extend that to two years instead of one.

So, you know because you don't think about it a lot of times, you know, victims don't get to a district attorney's office or they don't get to an advocate, or they don't get to someone who can say, hey, you can you can qualify for this.

That just extends that period of time.

Maybe during an investigation where it would allow a victim to have more access to those services.

We'll talk about talk more about victims compensation, because wasn't there some good news in the general fund, as it were?

Yes.

Yeah.

They, they, you know, crim victims compensation depends on the general fund, depends on fines and fees that are levied, those sort of things.

So having that line item in the in the general fund was huge for them because, you know, the number of, of claims, in application that come into them every day.

And this is across the state, tens of thousands of people a year that are harmed in a criminal situation.

You in you look at the amount of money that crime victims compensation could be paying out.

So that was a big win for them.

You know, I'm hearing you talk, and it's when we talk about criminal law, talk about, changes being made and all that, we tend to think about criminals.

Yeah, right.

We tend to think about the bad guy and oh, cracking down on that, which rightly so.

That's was why lawmakers are here.

Maybe not enough time is spent talking about victims.

And I know that's y'all's role.

Talk about that because there's a lot of people at the table.

You've got advocates for inmates.

You've got, you know, parole board situation.

You have a situation here in the legislature where in recent years they found it, necessary to adjust some of those laws.

So talk about your seat at the table and the perspective you're tryin to bring to those conversations.

I think, you know, when I get up every day, my goal is, is to make sure that no victim is further harmed.

And, and that's just the way I look at it in every move that we make, every program that we have.

And at the legislature, it's very apparent when when we look at bills that are filed and we start early looking at bills, we know some of them are comin and we read them and say, okay, how is this going to affect a crime victim?

We have a really good relationship with so many of the legislators, and we go to them and say, you know, your bill, we're not opposed to your bill overall.

We just want you to take into consideration how is this going to affect a victim?

Like, for instance, if you have like the second chance bill that was in the legislature this year, we were not really opposed to that bill based on the conditions, nonviolent crimes, you know, that there was going to be a process for the for the inmate to go through to get that.

Yeah, they fill in that gap.

Yeah.

Right.

But our question was, who's going to who's going to notify the victim that the person that was sent to prison when they were in a courtroom and there was a certain sentence that was handed down, they heard that sentence, they believe that sentence.

And now we're going to rescind this them.

And even if it wasn't a violent crime, it was somebody who stole your car.

You still want to know what you know.

That is still your case.

They steal your car.

So how are we going to notify victims?

How are we going to let them know that this is happening?

And and what we got back was, you know, we really didn't think about it like that.

So we were able to sit dow and say, let's, you know, let's let's come up with a way, who's going to notify the victim?

Is it going to be the clerk's office or the DA's office?

So there were a lot of moving parts to it.

But at the end of the day, we were not opposed to the bill because of everything that was in the bill to protect that victim.

And that was that's really the way we look at it is not just, no, we don't want the legislation to pass.

We just all right.

There were very few bills that we were an outright I just can't live with it no matter what you do to it.

But most of them we could sit down at the table and talk and we're in and we hear what inmates advocates are saying.

And and that's not our goal is to take away from any group, but to make sure that our mission and our victims are taken care of.

Probably a lot more successfu that way, sitting at the table rathe than, you know.

Oh, yes.

Throne.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'd rather be sitting at the table having a having a real conversation about how does this look for everybody here and what do we need to do.

And, and sometimes we have to compromise that.

That's just the way life is.

And so I find that you just get further and people respect your opinion more.

If you come to the table with that attitude, see it every day here at the state House.

Wanda, we're out of time, but can you is there a way that people can find out more about vocal a website?

Yes, you can go to our website.

It's vocal online.org.

You can go to that website.

See a lot of information, found out about our social media sites and all of the programs and things that we're doing.

Absolutely.

Well.

Thank you so much for coming on the show and look forward to seeing you again.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

You're watching Alabama Public Television celebrating 70 years of service to Alabama.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining m next is Captain Jeremy Briquette of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Captain thanks for coming on the show.

Hey, thanks as always Thank you so much for having me.

Well, a lot to talk about because the league has got a lot of stuff going on.

I want to get to the max.

The metro Area crime Suppression Unit, which we reported on earlier in the show.

But before we get there, I wanted to kind of get an update, on the holiday travel because, you know, it' the busy season on the highways and on the waterways.

Y'all had this big, joint effort with Georgi and Florida saying, look, we're going to really crack down.

I mean, I noticed it.

I noticed tha there was a big presence from, troopers on the road.

So how was it?

Was it successful in terms of, you know, preventing, accidents, preventing deaths?

Well, so, Todd what we really always try to say is we're better together.

Right?

So so that didn't change.

If we're working with our local municipalities, with our sheriff's office or our other state partners.

And kind of to your point on, and that was centered around marine patrol.

And that campaign was reall you know, you talk about safety.

The one of the slogans was you know, safety has no borders.

And I think that's true.

And when we come together and have those very, as I say, intentional, coordinated efforts we have seen success with that.

So we're just trying to continue to recreate those models.

But to your point, for us, when it comes to, crashes that are investigate by the Alabama law enforcement agencies, Highway Patrol an Marine Patrol Division to have.

And it's terrible any time somebody loses their life.

But we only lost three lives over the extended holiday travel period on Alabama's roadways.

And then we had zero deaths, zero deaths on Alabama's waterways during that memorial travel period.

And really, from what we can tell, vote registration is up in the state.

So probably what was the busiest weekend on Alabama waterways in recorded history?

For us, that's huge.

We had just three.

I mean, obviously you're right.

Any time any death is tragic, but that seems low.

That seems statistically impressive.

Well, I mean, for us, you know, year to day in anything can change.

And and we have to be, you know, ready and willing to go out and continue to do the things that we're doing.

But we do have a plan.

We're we're very data driven, when it comes to that.

And we've been able to leverage technology.

Right.

So that's one of the things, you know, there's there is a lot of technology that we use now that kind of allows us we look at the analytics, we look at the traffic pattern and so on and so forth.

We're looking into crashes.

Looking at the causation, you know, and really trying to dig in and seeing what we can d from an enforcement standpoint, but also communicating, you know, just like this, this is a great opportunity to just really get this message out there.

But but from an enforcement standpoint, being able to go out there and be targeted and what we do and do it continuously, and that's where we've found that we have some success.

So, so yes, we we have seen that in in, in our year to date numbers.

You say that, you know, we're down on fatal crashes.

And really we've had that training going for the last five years no a, a lot of variables into that.

And there's a lot of factors that play into that.

But especially for Alabama to be kind of a pass through state to, to the Gulf Coast.

Right?

I mean, that's we just do we we experience during Memorial Day, during 4th of July, during spring break, during Labor Day, we have some extremely heavy traffic period, and we have a lot of people that are in the state of Alabama that are going to the beach, but also a lot of traffic passing through.

Sure.

Oh yeah, we all see the plates from Kentucky and Ohio and Tennessee.

Is part of that.

You talk about factors.

I have to imagine part of tha is rebuilding the trooper ranks, that that's when Secretary Taylor came into the office.

He talked a lot abou we've got to rebuild the ranks and through the academy and all that.

I don't know the specific numbers, but I know it has really grown over there.

That's got to be helpful in terms of being abl to just to the manpower alone.

Well, we'll it's huge in in in I mean to your point, we have a group of Elliott trooper trainees at the training center right now.

So we have 23 individuals.

They just completed firearms this week.

So everybody just passed firearms.

And that's a big deal I mean that happened today.

So in in continue to hire.

And to your point that's a great point to kind of build those numbers out.

And we could always use more I mean but but really it goes back and I cannot mention this, the support of Governor Ivey the support of our legislators, I mean, I think that's made a huge difference.

I think there has been, you know, the realization, that public safety is a priority.

And we feel that, I mean, we really do.

Not only do we feel it, but we can tell because they're allowing us and giving us the tools that we need.

And we can't say this enough because our goal and our mission is public safety.

The deal for us it doesn't matter if you're in Mobile County, Madison County, Perry County, Russell County, we're trying to make the state safer for the for the visitors as well as our citizens.

And so onc we get the tools and resources and we put together a plan and we work with our partners to do that, we've seen it be effective.

And I want to get back to that in a minute, but let's talk about the max, what's called the Max Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit.

This was set up.

It's been almost a year, right?

It's been almost a year since this has been set up here in the capital city.

Agencies like you said, working together.

State and local and federal, some really impressive statistics.

And we reported on some of this earlier, but I wanted to drill down on, on some of these, released the statistics.

I have 414 arrests, and that's like an individual arrest.

Right?

Not just serving warrants.

256 firearms confiscated.

Those are illegal firearms, right?

Yes, sir.

And then 164 of these Glocks, which may seem conversion devices.

That's just in the capital city.

I mean, those would b impressive statistics statewide.

So, I mean, talk about that' just seems like a bigger impact than I even expected when y'all announced this.

Well, and it just really kind of feeds back to what we were talking about earlie with those partnerships, right?

Where we're better together in, in one of the thing for the max, we're fortunate in that we're fortunate that you've got some stakeholders, you know, of course, I mean, I can't say enough, Secretary Taylor's vision among others, you know, Sheriff Cunningham, you know, the ag, you know, Attorney general, Steve Marshall, they were all so instrumenta in really putting this together, having the vision, you know the district attorney's office, you know, helping to prosecute those crimes and and just really continue to kind of work with us as we go through this.

Montgomery PD, what wha they're bringing to the table.

And I think we're really building it out.

So so there's a couple different components.

Of course.

You've got the unit that's going out there that's working, trying to do the crime prevention but there's also a side to it.

And we talk about thi in law enforcement all the time.

You know, at some point we go our cases were made.

Now of course they've got to go through the judicial process and, and in due process is what it is.

And then in America.

And we're thankful for that.

I mean, we play our role in it.

We know what our part is in that because we're the enforcement arm of it.

But the other side of it i we're able to gather information and then at some point, we're able to work and take that information.

And as I say, kind of put i into that intelligence bucket.

Right.

And then once we take that intelligence, you know, at some point you begin to develop search warrants, you begin to develop arrest warrants.

So that's really where that proactive policing comes in.

And the harsh reality is it takes time.

You know, it takes time.

But we've been seeing that kind of bear fruit out.

Right.

So so I think there's a couple different things.

And as we continue as this Max unit continues to work, I think you're going to see more of that now.

Of course, it kind o gets into the means and methods.

You know, we can't always go out and broadcast that.

Not not in a way that's nefarious.

But at some point we have to be sensitive with sensitive information.

Can't let the bad guys know what your tactics are.

Exactly.

Exactly.

But that's that's really interesting.

And I mean, look, anytime the statistics go up hey, we've made a lot of arrests that might people might tend to think, well, crimes up, but it actually mean it's it's being taken care of.

And I think you've noticed the difference here in the capital city.

I mean, we see the helicopter going around.

I think you've you've definitely seen a difference here.

So I wanted to ask you, I know the legislature passed a law, put some funding there to, to allow this to, expand to other cities.

I know Birmingham's talked about it.

Mobile, Huntsville Does it have to be large city?

But those are the you know, some inner city crime.

Has they been reaching out to y'all in terms of maybe setting up something simila or how does that process work?

So I think there have bee some conversations about that.

And I think a lot of the locals are trying to work on some things now to to maybe get ahead of some of these things.

But but again, we've offered our support and that's really one thing that I will say.

I want to just take a point to say just just to be clear, you know, we've got individuals that are assigned to highway patrol, marine patrol, especially our State Bureau of Investigation.

They work with these local agencies all the time.

Right.

So so the Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit, of course, is a very well developed out task force.

But we've got individuals across the state that work together on cases every single day.

Right.

So so just to make sure that that I'm making that clear, but to your point, we are into looking to, to be able to expand it an it may be a situation as needed.

Okay.

So there may be a situation where we've seen some high crime or ther something specific going on are we can get a request and we come in and we work for just an exterio extended period of time to help, kind of like wha we were talking about earlier.

Hey, maybe we just need some help, you know, making some of these arrests and we can develop some of this out and scale it.

So we can again take this informatio that we believe we have, get it into that intelligence bucket and then go from there.

So we are those conversations are happening and we're continuing to be agai from from the Alia standpoint, open to help and locals because it goes back to our mission.

Right.

If if we can reduce because that's the reality, whether it's Huntsville Mobile, you know, there's a commonality between Montgomery, even if it's inside the incorporated city limits, it's still in the state of Alabama, right.

And so we want to bring crime down.

We want to reduce number of fatalities, and we want to save lives as long as is in the 67 counties of Alabama we're interested in.

And it's not like you are coming in and taking over it.

No, absolutely.

It's a resource thing because a lot of cities, not just to know about across America have experienced a police officer shortage.

Right.

And so it's just a manpower a numbers game, really in terms of dealing with crime.

And that's what we're here to do.

I mean, one of the things that a state agency brings to the table, across the United States, we're there to help kind of augment.

Okay.

And sometimes, you know, there's situations where you have large scale things, some of these smaller agencies and smaller municipalities, they just need additiona resources for a period of time.

And then we can take state resources, collect those resources and help the process the scene, especially, well, the state room investigation.

That's what they hey, because when you have a very active investigation and we all see i when something tragic happens, I mean, in especially from the media standpoint, from a citizen standpoint, they want answers right now.

Well, if you've only go a couple of investigators, it's really hard for them to conduct a number of interviews as quick as they need to, where we can bring in investigators, kind of pool those resources and help the deliver the results they need.

And like the Danville situation, 100% like they do, or even, you know, there was a situation, of course, in Tuskegee, recently where we were able to go in and again, not taken over it but hey, that's that's a school that's a very sensitive saying, hey, we want to go in, get the information that we need.

We want to be very accurate in the way we do it because it's important.

It's going to matter 18 months from now, 24 months from now.

But at the same time, we need to be aware of how quick we do it so we can bring in those resources because it's a school campus.

Yeah, right.

We want we want to clear this scene as fast as we can.

So the people that go to that school can get back into their everyday lives.

You know, it's interesting you talk about coordination with local weather, city, county, all that.

Because just going back, I don't know how long 15, 20 years ago, I would have observed that there was a little bit of a territorial ism when it comes to law enforcement, not just law enforcement, but, you know, between the trooper and the sheriffs and the police and everything that seems to have changed the way you talk about it and coordination that seems to have changed.

And that's that's really significant i terms of working together well.

And I think there's a lot of reasons for that.

I mean, you know these things can go back to 911, you know, because at some point and I hate to keep going back to this information.

Right.

But but it's just that commonality because we really have the same goals, the same missions.

Now it's it's as I say, left hand, right hand, you know, the same but different in they are.

But we look for thos opportunities to work together.

And I think you're makin a great point because it's true.

I mean, I would say that even in my career, you know, we're better off when we work together because in reality, if if you're in a crisis situation.

So if you're a citizen, if you're a mother, if you're a father, if you're a daughter, if something's happening to you, it really doesn't matter, right?

It really doesn't matter if it's a state trooper, if it's a sheriff's deputy, what color the lights are.

And so, so and we recogniz and realize that, so because at the end of the day, we need to provide that service to you as quick as possible.

And it's really a force multiplier when when we come together and we start working together and we have that same goal now, everybody still got same missions, right?

I mean, that's that's the thing and that's why none of this stuff happens overnight.

And sometimes it didn't happe as quick as people want it to.

But but to your point, I think we are in a really good plac now when it comes to being able to work together more on a, on a continuous basis.

Well, I've got yo just a little bit of time left, but the legislature obviously really focused on public safety this time around.

Lots of different legislation, including that Glocks, which ban, one of the biggest pieces of legislation was the back the blue bill.

This has to do with immunity and how those, whether it's a lawsui or criminal proceeding, proceed very controversial.

A lot of, you know, that's that's really not y'all's jo is to get into the policymaking.

But I wanted to get your perspective, because I've talked about thi bill all session from lawmakers who were for it, who were against it the governor, Secretary Taylor.

But what I haven't talked to i actual law enforcement officer.

And I'm hoping to get you perspective on a bill like that, because the intention was to back the blue was to give you all some support in terms of, being sued or prosecuted or things like that.

What from your perspective, what does a law like that give you and your colleagues?

Well, that's a great question.

And and I'll maybe I'll start it here.

So one of the things for me as just a law enforcement officer and I mean this and in general most sense is what it really did, and especially for the immunity bill.

And that's wha we're kind of focusing on now.

What it what it did was allow Alabama statute to kind of match your Supreme Court case law.

That also looks like our training okay.

So so at some point when we go out there and you're an officer and you get in a situation where you've got to protect your life or someone else's because that's what it comes.

You know, for us in law enforcement, that's what it goes back to.

So when we're out there, we're doing our job.

We don't attack people.

That's not what we do.

That is not what we do in law enforcement.

We either are taking necessary steps to protect someone else's life or ours.

Okay, so so what it did one of the things the immunity bill did was really bring in line Alabama statute with Supreme Court statute with what we train, because that's what we teach.

We teach and train the law.

I mean, as you said, we don't make the policies.

We have to enforce it.

So we want to make sure our training is in line.

Okay.

So that way when we have an officer, they understand everything's clear.

So it's on one sheet of music and there's no question that's correct And it is going to be unfairly.

And it gives the officer that confidence so they can go out there.

And that's huge in two ways that people probably wouldn't think about.

But of course, because law enforcement says a whole culture of a culture, right, is recruiting and retention, because at some point, hey, why do I want to go out here and have this very dangerous job, even though I love it because most people in law enforcement have a passion to do it, why don't want to go out here and do this job if if nobody's got my back, or it's not even clear for me to me to go out ther and do the things I need to do.

And so that's one of the things that the law did, because that is going to be huge to both recruiting and to what you talked about earlier, but also retaining because retaining officers is, is a huge deal because that's all it takes.

If you get early in your career, if you get into a use of force situation and now you're in these lawsuits and and it changes your whole life for 12 months or 15 months, well, at some point, you know, I' just going to go get another job because this is more this is more than I can bear.

It's not fair to me.

It's not fair to my family.

So so we think that's why from a from a law enforcement officers perspective.

And for us, that's wh we think this was so important.

Again, not it gives us the ability to go out and do whatever we want to do, but it gives us the abilit to have the confidence to teach and train to the standar that we need to be able to do.

And again, make sure that officers are confident in their ability because, you know, seconds matter.

I mean, that's the reality.

And there's not anyone really in law enforcement, especially that have been in it for a long time that just wants to go out there and hurt somebody.

For the most of us in law enforcement, that's the last thing we want to do.

That's the you know, we've been doing this job.

I mean, you think about it, you've had somebody that's been in law enforcement for 20 years or 22 years, and they've only had jus a few use of force situations.

Well, they didn' want to get into a use of force.

They they didn't get into a use of force.

And the last 365 days.

But they got into a use of force situation because they had to because it's part of their duty.

We took an oath.

We're having to go out here and protect people.

So we have to do that and, well, we're out of time.

But captain, thanks again for coming on and explaining some of these things.

Look forward to having you back.

Yes, sir.

Thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

Oneida native Brian Kirkland is a gold medal U.S. Paralympian.

He was a member of the 2000 and 2008 gold medal teams in wheelchair rugby, and won bronze in 2004.

Kirkland played wheelchair rugby for 18 years, winning five national championships.

He also medaled in three different events at the 1998 World Wheelchair Games, and was named the United States squad rugby Association Athlete of the year in 2003.

He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Each year, hundreds of rising high school seniors gather in the summer for intensive, hands on learning about state government.

It's known as girls state and boys state.

Girls state was this week in Tuscaloosa.

And joining me next to talk about it are the newly elected girl state governor, Missy Williams and her chief of staff, Reese Calamari.

Ladies thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you.

Glad to be here.

Well, congratulations.

I want to get to your election as governor in a second.

But first, can you kind of talk about girls state and inform our audience a little bit about the program itself and what you've gotten out of it?

Absolutely.

So, Girls State is sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary.

And Alabama Girls State is very, very, very interesting.

It is basically a simulation of real government.

So it's the state government.

We have a house, we have a Senate, and there are two parties.

And you can choose to run for a county office, a city office, or a state office.

Interesting.

And so you actually both ran for governor, right?

That's that's the fun thing about, girls state boys that I was added boys state years ago.

And so you can run for governor or you can run for state legislator.

There's the cabinet.

And so, you were successful.

You came out on top, bu now you're her chief of staff.

So I think that's really interesting.

Let me as you what what was your platform for running for governor?

What you what did you campaign on?

My platform was education and health care, primarily.

Okay What did you make some promises.

I, I did, I think I did.

I promise to try.

There you go.

To implement some better practices that I thought would help our government.

And what about you?

When you were campaigning, did you come into Girl State knowing that you wanted to ru and kind of preparing like that?

Yes.

Well, so when I first got into it, I was a little bit hesitant for running in the primaries because there were just so many good candidates.

But I finally found a good platform to run on, which was the economy, because I believe tha encapsulate all of these issues.

It was somethin that could really tie together all the issues in Alabama, like health care, infrastructure and education.

So that was really the platform that I ran on because everything was recursive.

Back to the economy.

Absolutely.

Well, what y'all been through civics and state governmen and things like that in school.

So did that help prepare y'al to kind of attend Girls State?

Because it kind of really takes it up a level in terms of what you learn.

It's a lot more intensive than school.

Would you say that race?

Yes.

And very, very much as the school like helped prepare you to, you know, be interested in state politics and state government and attending girls state?

I would say very mildly.

Okay.

We do have some form of education about state government and legislative government, but I will say that Girls State takes it up to an entirely nother level.

You really can't replicate that.

So we were able to actually vote on bills, write our own bills and debate those bills.

We were able to run for office with real campaign tactics.

So and I definitely don't think that you can't teach that in school.

Yeah.

You can't get that.

And that's what makes girl state and boys state so special is it's a week of really intensive, involvement hands on in in state government and everything.

Well, you've been in Tuscaloosa all week.

I heard it was the largest ever girls state.

Yes.

That's it's awesome.

But you heard some fro some really important leaders, and I'm thinking also some really important female leaders you've got.

It's a really interesting time in Alabama because we've got Governor Kay Ivey obviously leading the state.

You've also got Senato Katie Britt, who is, you know, a very young, relatively young United state senator.

They both spoke to y'all this year.

What did you take away from their visits?

What I took away from both of their visits was the importance of creating relationships.

I think that that was a great thing.

That so first, going into when Katie Britt was our very first speaker and going into it, she told us to just run for everything and to not be scared.

And I really took that lesson from her, and I really implemented it because I was very, very scared to ru for governor in our primaries.

But I listened to her.

I took what she I took what she said from her speech, and I applied it to myself, and I ran, and I eventually got the primary, with Governor Ivey.

She was just an amazing speaker.

She's very funny, too.

So I think that was a very great thing.

Missy, what about you?

I mean, these are prett inspiring female leaders, right?

So I thought that it was a huge inspiration to hear Senator Katie Britt speak.

And Governor Kay Ivey, because Governor Kay Ivey was actually lieutenan governor at Girl State her year and Katie Britt was governor.

So that's a huge inspiration to me.

I guess maybe someda I could be somewhere like that.

But hearing them speak was, probably one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Wow.

Did you get to meet him as well?

We, I did not.

Personally.

Not.

Yeah, but I think I think a meeting with the governor is on the books for for later today.

But that is really interesting, though, because.

And nobody, by the way, is surprised that Katie Britt was governor of the girls state.

Right.

Or the or that they're the he was lieutenant governor, both very ambitious leaders.

But is it inspiring to hear from, you know, especially somebody so young that, no.

Is that much older than you, all that it's been for the United States Senate?

Absolutely is a huge inspiration.

Any plans for, college?

You know, y'all are rising seniors.

Do you foresee, you know, getting involved in politics and things like that in college?

Is this something y'all want to be involved in?

Yes.

Of course.

Yes.

I'm very, very interested in politics.

I would like a job in that one day.

And I also remember our governo in town saying the same thing.

And I very much could see her doing that.

So, yeah, maybe we'll have you back on Capitol Journal when you're elected to office in some kind of, we were talking off ai about the chief of staff role, and that's really interesting because you're going to start learning about that role.

And, you know, everybody kind of knows who the governor is and that that role i obviously the big the big deal.

But you got cabinet members.

You got chief of staff.

I think it's so interestin that y'all are going to get to, you know, meet your counterparts, meet your, those in that job.

Now for your for you as Liz Fillmore.

And learn from them firsthand.

And I do think Girls state is such an important program.

I'm excited for y'all that y'all have been a part of it.

And I really appreciate y'all coming on the show to to share your experience.

And again, congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right.

We'll be right back.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online any time at Alabama Public Television's website.

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Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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Daniel Pratt was Alabama's first major industrialist, and founded the present day city of Prattville as a self-sufficient manufacturing center.

His factory complex, the Pratt Gin Company, became the world's largest manufacturer of cotton gins.

Pratt was instrumental in Alabama's transformation from a predominantly rural economy to a more diverse industria economy devoted to manufacturing and the production of coal, iron, and steel.

Before we go, I wanted to address an issue I've gotten quite a fe questions about in recent weeks, and that is the publi broadcasting funding situation, give what's going on in Washington.

It is tru that Alabama Public Television would be financially impacte if Congress clawed back already appropriated funding for the corporation for Public Broadcasting as being requested by the white House.

We don't know what will happen, and you won't hear me wading into that political issue, bu many have asked what they can do to show support for APT given the situation.

There's a growing effor called Protect My Public Media that offers those who value public broadcasting to become informed and connect with their elected representatives.

You can learn more online at BW Dot.

Protect my public media.

Org or you can just go to the APT website at apt tv.org and see the link right there on the homepage.

We're proud of the work we do here at APT and believe it's worth protecting for our Capitol Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.

For.