MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — Gov. Kay Ivey announced Friday that Alabama is awarding $115,179 to Mobile County to support a task force targeting gang activity and gun violence in Prichard.
The grant will help the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office establish a specialized unit to address major crimes and emergency operations in the city. Funding originates with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program and is administered in Alabama by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
Why the Sheriff’s Office is doing this work
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office has handled most police calls in Prichard since mid-June, when local and federal agencies announced the arrest of a Prichard Police Department officer as part of an ongoing corruption investigation. Several additional officers have been arrested since, including former Chief Walter Knight.
That arrangement has placed a considerable operational load on the county. Sheriff Paul Burch has said the office is pursuing grants to offset the cost of the effort, while acknowledging that a long-term solution is still needed. Grant funding of this scale addresses a specific project rather than the underlying structural question of who polices Prichard and how it is paid for.
What officials said
“This initiative will strengthen public safety in Prichard and help secure convictions in criminal cases,” Ivey said. “I commend the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office for its dedication to serve communities and keep residents safe.”
ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell added: “ADECA joins with Gov. Ivey in supporting law enforcement in their efforts to reduce crime and create a safer community for residents to call home.”
What Project Safe Neighborhoods funds
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a long-running federal program designed to reduce violent crime by coordinating federal, state and local law enforcement with prosecutors around specific, locally identified problems. The emphasis on securing convictions reflects the program’s structure: it funds not only enforcement activity but the case-building work that determines whether arrests result in prosecutions that hold.
For Prichard, where an evidence-handling scandal has already contributed to at least one case dismissal, that emphasis on prosecutable casework carries particular relevance.
The grant was announced Friday by the governor’s office.