At a town hall meeting, Prichard citizens urged local leaders to “stop bickering,” a deputy questioned a state representative, and the mayor said the future of the city’s scandal-laden police department is in her hands.
Roughly 100 concerned residents filled the auditorium of Mattie T. Blount High School Tuesday evening, Aug. 4, to hear Mayor Carletta Davis and Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch speak about what should be done with the Prichard Police Department. Following the arrests of several officers on assorted corruption charges — including former police chief Walter Knight — a special Mobile County grand jury recommended Prichard abolish its police department and build a new one.
Davis scheduled the meeting to gather feedback from residents before deciding what to do with the department. She told the crowd their comments would inform her choice between abolishing the agency and entering a $3 million contract with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement while the city rebuilds, or cleaning out the existing department and filling it with new officers.
“If there is an overwhelming sentiment [for abolition], then I will have to go out and figure out where to get the money, Sheriff, and you will have to help me,” Davis said. “If there is an overwhelming sentiment that they do not want to contract with the Sheriff and they want their own police department, then that is what we are going to do.”
Before public comments began, Burch discussed how MCSO has policed Prichard since District Attorney Keith Blackwood directed the agency to take over law enforcement operations in the city in June. A fact sheet distributed by Burch’s office said deputies responded to 2,422 calls for service in Prichard between Thursday, June 16, and Tuesday, Aug. 4 — an average of 49.4 calls per day, comprising 33 percent of MCSO’s calls for the entire county. “We have made this work by stretching our existing resources,” Burch told the crowd. “The current model is not sustainable.”
Several residents expressed gratitude for MCSO’s help but supported keeping the Prichard Police Department intact and staffing it with new officers, while urging Davis and the City Council to reconcile their differences. “Stop bickering,” resident Gabriel Dortch said.
State Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Saraland, agreed with the speakers and told Davis and council members in attendance that the city needs them to work together. He also questioned former Chief Knight’s arrest as “a bit excessive,” saying Knight and Maj. Aaron Tucker were arrested on charges of escorting private funeral services while still on the clock as police officers. “To make $2,000 dollars for doing a funeral procession, I just think it’s a bit excessive,” Bracy said. MCSO Capt. Terri Hall pushed back, asking Bracy “when do we hold our law enforcement to certain standards?” and noting Knight and Tucker were “taking taxpayer money at the same time” as working outside jobs.
Speaking after the meeting, Davis said residents made clear they care about the department and want something done, while balancing the need for dependable law enforcement with the city’s finances. She said she met last week with Hayneville Mayor Jimmie Davis to discuss how that Lowndes County municipality handled dismantling its police department in 2025. “I asked him very bluntly if he had to do it all over again, would he do it the way he did it, and he said absolutely not,” Davis said. “He said he would have gotten rid of the corruption, of course, and brought in a good chief and rebuilt, not dissolved.”
Davis said she is working with Bracy and the local delegation of the Alabama House of Representatives for help. “I had a call with all of the delegation for the House of Representatives to let them know where we are and what we need,” she said. “They have committed to me they will all be working to help where they can.”
No formal decision was made by the end of the meeting. Davis must first make a recommendation on the department’s future, and the city’s budget must be submitted to the council for review and approval by Aug. 15.