that s a failure. if you had more officers and more productivity, you d have more. i think it could be more. despite everything we just laid out, it s still not enough for this guy. it is so disturbing, and, you know, you laid out the data brilliantly. but behind that data are real human stories. alabama is the seventh poorest state in the country. so many of those people that racked up tickets, they can t pay them. they probably have had their licenses suspended, maybe their cars towed. the impact on low-wealth people across this state is devastating when these kind of policing for profit schemes perpetuate. and the district attorney for jefferson county, which is where brookside is located, has said that anyone driving out that way can, quote, fall into a black hole when it comes to the financial entanglements that come from getting ticketed in brookside. when you look at what s happening here, do you think that s just basically the goal of brookside police, to ticket
commission perform a compliance audit of the brookside police department and officers. the town continues to investigate these issues and will take any other appropriate action that may be determined miss. leah nelson with the social justice nonprofit alabama apple seed says alabama doesn t generate enough revenue from taxation to public policy incentivizes cities and counties to get that revenue another way. the path of least resistant is ticketing people for low level offenses. reporter: brookside residents wonder if the new tactics will consider under a new chief. mike jones never got back to us. the town still does not have a police chief but the mayor says he has directed the police department to no longer patrol interstate 22 unless they re responding to accidents. the mayor added he has also met with a representative from the lieutenant governor s office and he is cooperating fully. state lawmakers in alabama tell us they are currently drafting
jones attorney says she will also sue the police department. even though i was pulled over, i was following the laws of the road. reporter: the jefferson county sheriff s office says for years there s been a slue of complaints against the brookside police department. this week police chief mike jones suddenly resigned. hey there. my name is nick valencia reporter: we went to brookside to talk to who is in charge now. so the town of brookside does not have a current police chief? reporter: but we re told they don t have a new chief. no comment. reporter: the brookside police gave us this statement. this will confirm that mike jones resigned as the police chief for the town of brookside. since this involves a personnel matter the town has no further comment. brookside s mayor was in the office but he declined our request for an interview, responding to the allegations of predatory policing he handed us this statement, in part saying, to investigate and address the issu
2020 under brookside police chief mike jones income from fees and forfeitures increased by 640%. the outlet says the money amounts to half of the town s total income or roughly $1.2 million. you feel like they tried to ruin her name? yes, they d they did. reporter: pastor vance says he is one of the countless victims of the policing for profit. in 2019 he says he was unjustly pulled over for having temporary plates on his new car. he has filed a lawsuit for defamation of character and filing false charges. they re policing for revenue. they re pulling people over for bogus charges. reporter: 24-year-old college student jori jones said her interaction with the brookside police felt like a shakedown after being pulled over for driving without her lights just before dusk jones says her car was impounded and she was left stranded on the side of the road.
years about excessive fines and fees imposed by law enforcement, amounting to ultimately half of the town s budget. the policing problems have only gotten worse in recent years, putting the town under some new scrutiny here and cnn s nick valencia went to take a look. reporter: less than 30 minutes north of birmingham sits the small town of brookside, alabama. it s a former mining town with no stoplights, no retail stores other than the dollar general and no major crimes. a stretch of interstate 22 runs directly through brookside and the town has a lot of cops to police it. brookside is only about three miles long and has just over 1,200 residents, but the police here, they feel the need for at least three s.w.a.t. vehicles. not only that, they also have a tank, which looks brand-new. according to the local media outlet a.l..com between 2018 and