Fairfield Police Department
The Fairfield Police Department (officially the Fairfield Police and Court Department) serves the City of Fairfield, west of Birmingham, with a 2014 population estimate of 10,988. It was founded with the city's incorporation in 1919. The acting Chief of Police is Nicholas Dyer.
In 1940 two Fairfield police officers killed Fairfield Tin Mill worker O. D. Henderson to death after he reportedly knocked down a white worker outside the mill's office.
Fairfield has lost three officers in the line of duty. W. H. Coleman was killed on September 9, 1925. Myron Massey was shot to death on August 8, 1985. In 2006 Officer Mary Smith was shot to death while investigating a suspicious vehicle in the Vinesville neighborhood. Demetrius Jackson Jr was convicted of capital murder.
In July 2015 Roy Hunter, a custodian who worked at the department headquarters, was arrested for trafficking in firearms stolen from the police evidence room. He admitted the theft and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Fairfield's tax revenues were crippled in 2015-2016 with the shutdown of U.S. Steel's Fairfield Works blast furnace and the closure of the city's Wal-Mart Supercenter. On March 11, 2016 the Fairfield City Council voted 4-0 in a special called meeting to disband the city's police department and seek law enforcement services from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. Then Chief Leon Davis objected that the meeting was given with little notice and had concluded before its advertised start. Mayor Kenneth Coachman overruled the vote on the grounds that the department was his responsibility.
Chiefs
- Betty Gamble, 1999-2005
- Pat Mardis, 2005-April 2011
- Leon Davis, April 2011-May 1, 2016
- Nicholas Dyer (acting), May 1, 2016-
References
- Robinson, Carol (March 11, 2016) "Fiscally strapped Fairfield votes to disband police department." The Birmingham News
- Robinson, Carol (October 3, 2016) "Former police department janitor, 70, admits to smuggling, selling guns from evidence room." The Birmingham News