I went through the police academy for the first time in 1998. Twenty-eight years later, I went through it again. A lot changed in that time, including me, but one thing became even clearer the second time around: The police academy is a terrible place to start getting ready for the police academy. By the…
Most people don’t deal with traffic stops very often. Police officers do, and that difference alone can create a lot of uncertainty. You may wonder why the officer is still sitting behind you instead of walking up, why you’re being asked a particular question, or why something that seemed simple is taking several minutes. Sometimes…
Barbour County history is full of stories people repeat because they’ve heard them all their lives. If you grew up here, or spent enough time around people who did, you’ve probably heard some version of them. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar: high-stakes poker games where decisions were really made, the prosecutor who…
Most people who pass through Barbour County, Alabama, see a road. They see U.S. 431 through Eufaula, maybe Highway 51 toward Clayton, maybe one of the smaller roads cutting across the county. They pass gas stations, churches, fields, timber, old houses, a few businesses, and signs for towns they may never actually enter. Then they…
After nearly three decades as sheriff of Lee County, Jay Jones lost the May 19 Republican primary to former deputy Cam Hunt by just 307 votes. Hunt received 9,301 votes to Jones’s 8,994, according to the unofficial results. Jones first took office in January 1999. He had spent nearly thirty years building his career, his…
Jay Jones has served as sheriff of Lee County since January 1999, following his election in 1998. Nearly three decades in office gives him a substantial record to campaign on, along with relationships and experience that a challenger can’t easily match. But it also gives voters nearly three decades of decisions to examine, and former…
When I’m looking to hire a police officer, I’m not just trying to fill an empty position. I’m deciding who I’m willing to put in a patrol car, give a badge and a gun, and trust to make decisions on behalf of the department when I’m not standing beside them. That’s a considerable amount of…
The lawsuit against Workday began as a challenge to software that can determine which job applicants ever reach a human recruiter. Now, the case is expanding beyond its original allegations of race, age, and disability discrimination to include claims involving sex discrimination and California employment law. On March 6, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin…
The first time I went through the police academy was in 1998. On January 19, I’ll start all over again. Because I’ve been out of law enforcement for more than 15 years, my Alabama certification is no longer active, so I have to complete the whole academy. There isn’t a shortened version based on the…
People carry a gun because they want it available if something goes wrong, but then they get where they’re going, leave it in the car, and walk away. Now it can’t serve the purpose they carried it for, but it can still be stolen or found by somebody who shouldn’t have it. At that point,…