Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
Judge Bill Bostick speaks about the justice system in his courtroom of the Shelby County courthouse inColumbiana on Jan. 14.
Justice was the focus of the fourth meeting for the Leadership Shelby County class of 2020 on Jan. 14. The group gained a better knowledge and understanding of law enforcement, the court system, community corrections and juvenile services in Shelby County.
The morning began in the Commission Chambers at the Shelby County Administration Building, where the group heard from Circuit Judge Bill Bostick, attorney and Shelby County Commissioner Lindsey Allison and Probate Judge Allison Boyd.
Boyd spoke of how well all the agencies in the county work together, the need for more poll workers, how they are working to find solutions for mental health and how sentencing has recently been changed.
Judge Jim Kramer of the Juvenile Court System said he has been doing what he loves for 36 years and described his job as both fulfilling and disheartening. In his nearly 30,000 cases since 2005, he has worked with abuse and neglect, delinquents, children in need of supervision, dependent cases and terminating parental rights.
District Attorney Jill Lee has served as Shelby County’s D.A. for the last six years.
“Our goal is to make offenders productive members of society,” she said.
Other speakers included Circuit Clerk Mary Harris and interim public defender Dennis Jacobs.
Next, we moved to the Shelby County Courthouse where we gathered in Courtroom No. 5 and heard from District Court Judge Daniel Crowson and Circuit Court Judges Patrick Kennedy (domestic violence court), Bostick (drug court and veterans court), Corey Moore (mental health court) and Lara Alvis.
Each of the four circuit court judges handles about 25% of all domestic cases. Bostick said it takes teamwork for things to get done in the courthouse. They are also making a public push to add another judge in the near future.
Our next stop was the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Training Center, where we heard from Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego, who informed us of the five divisions of the department administrative, corrections, criminal investigations, drug task force and patrol.
“This county works together and also with all federal agencies,” Samaniego said. “Our target staff is 239, and we currently have 230.”
Jason Myrick, commander of the Tactical Response Unit, talked about a recent hostage situation and how several different departments from the area came together to assist and how this event ended up with the best outcome.
We went outside for a Tactical Response Unit demonstration, where four officers performed a simulated experience at their training building to show how they handle hostage situations.
Julius Cook, director of Community Corrections, discussed the 15 services they provide and how they are a government agency, but stand as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Sixty-seven percent of their funding comes from clients in the programs there, and they house between 3,500-4,000 offenders per year.
The last speaker of the day was Tim Bullard, detention manager at the Shelby County Juvenile Detention Facility. He is over the 34-bed facility that accommodates youthful detainees and segregates them from the general adult detention facility. Their goal is to create a program to provide for the temporary and safe custody of juveniles who are alleged and/or adjudicated delinquent and who require a restricted environment for their own or the community’s protection while pending legal action.
“We also have two classrooms that are taught by teachers from the Shelby County Board of Education, and we have students from Hoover, Shelby County, Alabaster and Pelham,” he said.
Our next Leadership Day will be Feb. 11 and will focus on health care in Shelby County.
280 Living Editor Leah Ingram Eagle is a member of this year’s Leadership Shelby County class. This article is part of an ongoing series, documenting the group’s year.
