36 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MAY 2017 H omicide is personal for Birmingham, A l a b a m a Police Chief A.C. Roper. Like many law enforce- ment executives, he’s the one facing down angry citi- zens and a hostile media when things go bad. But Roper can empathize with the rage, pain and sor- row that comes with a life lost to violence. Roper’s own brother was murdered in Birmingham while holding his infant son during a 1992 robbery at- tempt. “My wife’s brother also was murdered in Birming- ham,” he told The Birming- ham News in 2010. “I don’t know many cities where the chief and the chief’s wife have both lost siblings to murder in that city.” So it’s easy to see how Chief Roper can empathize with those who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence. And murder is booming in Birmingham. Homicides there have in- creased 80 percent over the past three years. If the current course holds steady, the city could see murders in the triple digits. That hasn’t happened since 2006. “We’re taking a survey across the city and we’re looking at locations like drug houses and places where we are getting repeated complaints and calls for service regarding gunshots and we’re zeroing in on it,” Roper told ABC 33/40’s Pam Huff in a recent inter- view. “We’re trying to save the lives of our young people and we’re going to work hard at it every day.” Lt. Sean Edwards, public information officer for the Birmingham Police Depart- ment, says the amount of guns on the street is a major factor. “A lot of people are start- ing to handle their disagree- ments and confrontations with firearms,” he told the Birmingham Times. “Too many firearms are entering verbal conversa- tions or even disagreements that really should end with people walking away from each other.” “If you’re hanging out with the kind of people who are involved in activities that can be detrimental to your life, homicides are going to Maj. Gen. A. C. Roper addresses the Booker T. Washington Centennial Awards Leadership Banquet at Tuskegee University in Alabama. The topic of Roper’s speech was “Applying the Principles of Public Service to Leadership in Business and Community.” The Banquet marked the culmination of the Booker T. Washington Economic Development Summit. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Eugene- courtesy of US Army Reserve) increase based on the ac- tivities you’re involved in or the locations where you’re hanging out,” he said. Chief Roper says the cops can react – but it’s really up to the community to get in- volved and make a change. “If there are community groups out there that would like to join with us, we wel- come the support because we can’t do it alone,” Roper said in the ABC 33/40 inter- view. “If you are involved in mentoring, social services, or can help strengthen fami- lies, please contact us. “We are in a race against time trying to save the lives of our young people,” he said. “Because of these socio- economic factors, because we have family issues, we have poverty, and unem- ployment and all these other socio-economic issues that affect crime . . . the police can’t be the answer alone.” Chief’s own brother and Chief’s own brother and brother-in-law both murdered brother-in-law both murdered Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) is now worth a cool $75 billion. With $75 billion dollars, you could buy 2,500,000 cars at $30,000 each or 375,000 houses at $200,000 each. If y o u s a v e d $100,000 per year, it would take you 750,000 years to save $75 billion dollars. If you could save $10,000 every single day, then it would only take you 20,548 years to save $75 billion. If Bezos is earning just 5% interest on his $75 billion he would be pulling in $1 million an hour for a ten-hour day. And the total U.S. intelligence budget in 2012 was $75 billion, said Steve Aftergood, director of the government secrecy program at the Federation of American Scientists. t
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