Meeting date: June 25, 2015
By Monde M Donaldson
Speaker: Chief James Barber
Mobile Police Department
Invocation, Song Music and Pledge
Ken Robinson called the meeting to order. Lewis Shreve gave the invocation.
Distinguished Young representatives led the song and pledge. They were accompanied by Les Greer.
Student of the Week
John Dukes recognized Linda Tran of Alma Bryant High School as one of the two winners of the 2015-2016 Rotary Scholarship.
Announcements
The Tarpon Tournament will be August 1 with the Captain’s Reception at Ruth Chris on
July 30.
Program
Chelsea Fenton representing the Distinguished Young Women program introduced two Has Beens. They shared the story of how the program had impacted their lives and Fenton encouraged members and their families to attend the preliminaries and finals.
Mobile Police Chief James Barber was the main speaker. He told Rotarians safety is a fundamental right of government. “Everyone has the right to feel safe in their home.”
He reminded members that everyone is touched by the Mobile Police Department (MPD) every day whether they call a policeman or not – their safety at home, at work, at school and on the roads are all components of the job. “My goal is to make his the safest city on America,” he stated. “This means mutual respect for everyone.”
In November 2013, Barber said he was asked to draw a comprehensive plan for the MPD by Sandy Stimpson. Once he became police chief. Mayor Stimpson asked him to put this plan in place. Barber said he realized that the traditional police training had to be refocused to foster a mutual respect between the department and the community.
Ninety per cent of the neighborhoods don’t have serious crime, the hot spots that make up the other 10 percent are the areas where there were a disproportionate number of cases of serious crime (felonies).
Among the initiatives, Barber has implemented include constant contact by the precinct captain in the neighborhoods, a re-entry task force for returning prisoners helping them to get jobs and avoid crime, expansion of the family intervention teams and a highly successful fatherhood intervention program focusing on a select group of participants.
The meeting was adjourned.