Photo courtesy of Hoover Police Department.
Surveillance video captures a robbery suspect entering the Walgreens pharmacy at 1801 Montgomery Highway on March 23, 2022.
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The city of Hoover had only 15 robberies reported in 2022 — the lowest amount in more than two decades, records show.
The number of robberies reported fell 38% from 24 in 2021 to 15 in 2022. Six of those were robberies of individuals, six were robberies of businesses, and three were shoplifting cases that turned into third-degree robberies when force was used, Hoover police Lt. Daniel Lowe said.
One of the robberies of an individual was determined to be unfounded, and another was downgraded to a theft when it was prosecuted, Lowe said.
Over the previous 21 years, the average number of robberies in Hoover per year was 56, and the number climbed as high as 105 in 2004, records show.
Police are extremely pleased to see the drop, Chief Nick Derzis said. That’s especially true given that Hoover’s most recent population estimate was about 93,000 residents in July 2021.
“That’s something I think all of us at the Police Department are very proud of. We start each year hoping we can keep our community safe. We work very hard to do it, and it’s kind of extraordinary when you see some of the things we were able to accomplish this past year,” Derzis said.
“If we were a corporation, we would be handing out large bonuses to everybody.”
Hoover police also were able to make arrests in 60% of their robbery cases in 2022, compared to a national violent crime clearance rate of 32.5% (for 2021), Lowe said.
Weapons law violations in Hoover were down 24% from 95 in 2021 to 72 in 2022, while burglaries dropped 9% from 129 to 117, thefts of vehicles fell 7% from 130 to 121 and assaults were down 2% from 848 to 827.
Of those assaults, 678 were simple assaults, 86 were cases of intimidation, 28 were felony domestic violence cases, 25 were other felony assaults, 5 were discharges of firearms into an occupied dwelling, 3 were child abuse cases and 2 were throwing or shooting a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle.
Overall, the number of crimes reported in Hoover in categories reported to the FBI increased 4%, from 4,016 crimes in 2021 to 4,184 in 2022. Arrests were up 7% from 2,753 to 2,935.
COUNTERFEITING, FORGERY AND FRAUD
One of the biggest increases was in counterfeiting and forgery cases, which rose 61% from 75 to 121.
Some of that increase comes from in-person counterfeiting and forgery, but a lot more criminals are victimizing and scamming people using technology, Lowe said. Many times, it’s over the phone or through email, and unfortunately, a lot of times the victims are elderly people, he said.
Fraud offenses — which include impersonation, swindling, stealing through false pretenses and credit card fraud — remained relatively stable in 2022, but there were still 430 fraud offenses reported in Hoover for the year.
Derzis said a lot of phone scams originate outside the United States, sometimes with 150 to 200 people in the same room making phone calls to rip people off. “All it takes is a very, very small percentage of those phone calls to make somebody’s life miserable here,” sometimes stealing $10,000 to $50,000 from people by gaining their personal and/or financial information, he said.
There is little the police can do against those international scam operations, he said.
Common scams include outdated warranties and people claiming that there is an arrest warrant out for the victim and demanding some sort of payment to avoid prosecution, he said.
People need to remember that reputable companies, organizations and the Internal Revenue Service generally won’t make calls to you and ask for your personal information over the phone, Lowe said.
Derzis said it’s hard to believe some people agree to buy gift cards to resolve an alleged problem or stay out of trouble, but unfortunately they do. People should contact the police if they have any doubt instead of paying money or sending gift cards, he said.
DRUG OFFENSES
The number of drug offenses rose 20% from 543 in 2021 to 650 in 2022, with the largest increase coming in marijuana cases. The number of marijuana possession cases rose 33% from 208 to 276.
Lowe said a lot of the increase in drug cases could be attributed to officers being more proactive and observant in traffic stops and encounters with the public.
Police Capt. Keith Czeskleba said there’s probably the same amount of marijuana out there now as there always has been, but police found it more often in 2022 because they were making more traffic stops. In early 2021, police still were limiting the number of officer-initiated encounters with the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Czeskleba said.
In 2022, there also were 187 drug equipment violations, 173 cases of controlled substance possession, 7 controlled substance distribution cases, 3 cases of drug trafficking and 2 cases of promoting prison contraband.
Derzis noted that there were 10 drug overdose deaths in 2022: seven from fentanyl, two from an unknown substance and one from a sedative or opioid. That was fewer deaths than in the past several years, and most of the people were generally 30 to 40 years old, Derzis said.
Meanwhile, the number of drug overdose victims saved increased (by about 10) to 49, the chief said. Of those, 26 were heroin overdoses, 12 were fentanyl overdoses, and the rest were an overdose of some sort of opioid combination, he said.
The majority of those rescues were the result of someone administering Narcan to the victim, whether it was someone with the victim, police or paramedics, Derzis said.
A lot of politicians and health care professionals have been advocating to make drug-testing strips more available to people so they can determine if their drugs are laced with fentanyl, Derzis said. That’s a great idea to save people, but “I have yet to hear one say ‘Maybe it’s not a good idea to do illegal drugs,’ or ‘What are we doing to try to get people off of them?’” Derzis said.
Police have to deal with the effects of the drug epidemic, he said. “People who are addicted to drugs commit crimes, but nobody wants to talk about that.”
Also, almost all the drugs coming into the United States today are coming from Mexico, Derzis said. “There is no border security right now,” he said.
Hoover police are doing the best they can to combat illegal drug activity, but border security is primarily a federal issue, he said. That said, “what takes place at that level is affecting people in the city of Hoover every day,” he said.
HOMICIDES AND SEX OFFENSES
Hoover had four homicides in 2022, up from two the previous year. Police made arrests in each of the cases, with the defendants still awaiting trial.
The first occurred Jan. 29, when 25-year-old Madison Shea Pilkington was found dead in her apartment at The Halston apartment complex off Old Rocky Ridge Road. Evidence indicated she died as the result of an assault, and police charged her boyfriend, 32-year-old Cortez Lenard Warren of Hoover, with murder.
The second homicide happened Aug. 3 at the Marathon gasoline station at 5423 U.S. 280, when 19-year-old Sophia Nicole Zeigler was shot to death during an argument. Police charged an acquaintance of hers, 24-year-old Skylar Jacquel Dorsey of Trussville, with capital murder.
The final two homicides of 2022 happened Oct. 1 at The Park at Hoover apartment complex when two women, 39-year-old Lauren Anne White and 24-year-old Blakeley Meachelle Nelson, were shot to death. Police charged an acquaintance, 21-year-old Daxton Elliot Keith of Alabaster, and 20-year-old An’Ton Je’Ho Ram Lewis of Birmingham with capital murder.
There were 20 sex offenses reported in 2022, including 14 rapes and 2 cases each of sodomy, fondling and sexual assault with an object.
Domestic violence offenses declined 11% from 522 to 463, but the number of other types of domestic incidents increased 12% from 409 to 460.
AUTO BURGLARIES
Derzis said he was pleased to see the number of auto burglaries decline slightly from 371 to 361, but particularly happy to see the number of guns being stolen from vehicles decline. Hoover police in March of last year launched a “Lock it or lose it” campaign after having 113 guns stolen from vehicles in Hoover in 2021 and 480 guns stolen from vehicles over the previous five years. As of December 2022, the number of guns stolen from vehicles was down by more than 50%, the chief said.
“That to me is very significant,” Derzis said. “I think the citizenry has been listening. … That’s not to say we still don’t have UBEVs [unlawful breaking and entering of vehicles] or don’t have unlocked cars, but maybe people are at least taking their guns inside.”
Derzis said a lot of the credit for decreased crime belongs to the public because people are calling police when they see suspicious things and responding to requests for help in solving crimes.
The department’s social media team does a fantastic job sharing what’s happening and soliciting feedback, he said. Since 2014, the department’s number of followers has increased from 5,000 to 42,000 on Facebook, 3,000 to 15,000 on Twitter, zero to 3,900 on Instagram and zero to more than 32,000 on Nextdoor, Derzis said.
Recruiting officers to work in the department is more challenging than it once was — as it is for police departments across the country, Derzis said. However, the city recently increased starting pay rates to $57,304 for people not yet certified as officers who have to go to an academy and a range of $60,174 to $66,352 for those already certified. Officers can be paid up to $88,920.
The higher pay has helped increase interest, Derzis said. “We’re certainly doing everything in our power to attract the kind of caliber of people we want to hire,” he said. “We’re looking for the best possible candidates.”
