Samaniego receives local honor, presidential appointment

Hundreds of people gathered at the Wynfrey Hotel on Feb. 19 to honor Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego, who was named Birmingham’s Crime Stopper of the Year on Dec. 20.

The honor is awarded annually for exemplary dedication to fighting crime and for support and commitment to Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, which covers an eight-county area of metropolitan Birmingham.

The Crime Stopper Fundraising Luncheon, which is the nonprofit’s main fundraiser for the year, featured a welcome from Frank Barefield, Chairman of the Board for Crime Stoppers along with remarks from Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato.

During the event, a representative from the Hoover Police Department spoke on behalf of Police Chief Nick Derzis about the Hoover Police Department’s Training Center that will open later this year. Other awards presented included the Myers-McBee Crime Stoppers Award and Outstanding Law Enforcement Honorees from various counties. 

Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama board chairman Frank Barefield previously said in a press release announcement that “We want to thank Sheriff Samaniego for his great service to our state, and in particular to the expertise he brings in law enforcement to one of Alabama’s fastest-growing counties and to the entire metro Birmingham area.”

It also added that the sheriff has committed himself to fighting crime and has been highly supportive of Crime Stoppers efforts in central Alabama. 

Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama’s mission is to help make neighborhoods safer by assisting  law enforcement in solving crimes and finding wanted persons. 

Former Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry gave the introduction for Samaniego, who is in his 44th year of full-time law enforcement work, saying he recruited him and hired him as his chief deputy in 2003. He was elected sheriff of Shelby County in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. 

Curry also mentioned that Samaniego was recently appointed to serve on President Donald Trump’s Commission on Law Enforcement last month, along with 15 others throughout the country to research important current issues facing law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The Commission will meet monthly for the next year and then report its findings to the Attorney General, who will submit a final report to President Trump.

“There are only three sheriffs on that commission, and over 3,000 in the U.S.,” Curry said. “He is in the 1/10th of 1% of that population.” 

During his brief acceptance speech, Samaniego took little credit for himself, and said he accepted the award on behalf of the men and women in the sheriff’s office. 

“We have an incredible working relationship with Crime Stoppers and I hope it continues,” he said. I’d also like to thank the District Attorney’s office in Shelby County, they are unsung heroes.” 

He went on to thank his wife and daughter, noting that his schedule can be “pretty busy at times.”

Keynote speaker, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said Crime Stoppers couldn’t have honored a finer man. 

“He is one of my go to people,” he said. “When I have issues, I call him and he always gives me good advice. Despite how good he is at law enforcement, he is an even better man, husband and dad.”

Marshall said he changed his speaking topic on Feb. 4, after the Alabama’s seventh law enforcement officer was murdered in the last 13 months and said that must end. 

“This is a remarkable profession of people who sacrifice their lives to protect their communities,” Marshall said. “We don’t see them as men who wore a badge and a gun. They too were fathers, husbands, sons and friends to many in the community.”

Marshall said Alabama doesn’t have incarceration problem, it has a violent crime problem and he hopes citizens can become engaged and involved in partnership with law enforcement. 

He ended by telling the law enforcement officers in attendance ”Don’t give up, don’t lose hope, keep fighting the good fight because your cause is a righteous one and you have our eternal gratitude and support.”