Report on Mobile police: Illegal behavior, aggressive, demeaning attitude toward Black residents

A 100-page report released Tuesday was highly critical of the Mobile Police Department’s use of force, particularly within the city’s Black community.

Among the more damning allegations:

• A series of unnecessary deaths of Black men
• The beating of a handcuffed suspect
• Detainment of families, including a 6-year-old child
• Frequent use of swearing
• The inability to de-escalate altercations with Black suspects

Details of the report and Mobile’s police department — turned upside down this month amid a swell of criticism between Police Chief Paul Prine and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration — were outlined Tuesday night during a lengthy news conference at Government Plaza.

The report outlined findings from six altercations with Black people, four of which resulted in a death. The report was the culmination of work by an investigative team led by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown and focused on the policies and procedures during the use of force within the agency.

And the report directs blame at the top of the agency, and on Prine specifically. It concludes that Prine’s recent behavior since being placed on paid administrative leave on April 9, was “emblematic of his autocratic tendencies” that can be connected to creating a police culture that included unconstitutional and demeaning behavior toward Mobile’s Black community.

“There are numerous constitutional violations including the beating of a handcuffed suspect, the going into or the attempt to go into cell phones repeatedly, the denigration of suspects of deadly force during press conferences, the illegal and unconstitutional detentions without probable cause,” Brown said. “That’s a litany (of allegations) I see an outside agency like the (Department of Justice) being interested in.”

Brown said he felt there is no reason for the DOJ to investigate the city’s police department, citing his report as evidence that the city wants to make changes and move the agency in a more transparent and acceptable direction.

He added, “I think it’s important that MPD have the ability and demonstrate the ability to be introspective, review their policies, be more … so the public can review the guidelines police are led by.”

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said the report represented an effort to get out in front of a serious situation that Brown said — if left unaddressed — could lead to a federal takeover of the city’s policing, and a loss of local control over the agency.

“This is maybe like going to your heart doctor and they tell you, ‘you need to do things differently or you will have a heart attack,’” Stimpson said. “I am confident the men and women in the police department will move in the right direction. They know the mayor is behind them. I’ve never shunned this responsibility. That’s why we took the action we were taking. If leadership is the problem … we will change leadership.”

Chief’s criticism

Prine, in a statement to AL.com, criticized the report and its allegations about unconstitutional behavior under his leadership as “Mr. Kenyen Brown’s opinion,” and blamed some of that activity under the intelligence command unit that is not under the chief’s oversight. Stimpson pointed out that the report does not allege unconstitutional behavior by the cyber unit.

Prine said that Brown “gave a lot of opinions based on inferences and not real metrics.”

“I guess when you pay someone $1,000 an hour, you pay for the report you get,” Prine said. Brown has been paid approximately $79,000 for the work.

“This is nothing more than the administration’s attempt to turn the Black community on the police department,” Prine said, calling the report a document aimed to “oust the chief” and a “sideshow” to his allegations about improprieties within the administration’s contracting and administration of cyber intelligence, which he claims he had no oversight.

Prine could be fired by the Mobile City Council next week. The council could also vote to commence a third-party investigation into Prine’s allegations about the mayor’s administration.

Council members said earlier Tuesday they were hopeful that Prine and the Stimpson administration could reach a separation agreement, though Prine said he has not gotten any new severance package in writing.

Prine, 53, a Prichard native, has been Mobile’s chief since 2021. Prine was seeking $600,000, an amount Stimpson said was unacceptable. The mayor said he was attempting to assemble a more competitive separation agreement that was more in line with Prine’s existing salary. Prine currently earns $146,208 as police chief.

Prine said he has filed grievances with the city’s Chief of Staff James Barber and Executive Director of Public Safety Rob Lasky. The only grievance the city has forwarded to the media was filed in January against Lasky, alleging inappropriate dressing down of the police chief in front of a subordinate.

Prine claims it was Barber who released an autopsy report of 36-year-old Jawan Dallas to a local TV station, calling the action unethical.

Dallas was one of the six cases reviewed by Brown’s team, and arguably the most high-profile as it has led a $36 million federal lawsuit filed against the city.

“It’s a farce report,” Prine said. “It was to do nothing more but to oust the Chief of Police and make the PD the scapegoat so they can make the changes they want to make.”

Reviewing six incidences

Brown’s report dives into six incidences, all of which he described as including an improper use of force by police or another questionable circumstance such as seizing cell phones or detaining family members during police raids.

It also includes interviews from the public, including at a community meeting that was held in March. Also highlighted within the report was a “preconceived notion” from investigators that Mobile police had a view that “everybody they deal with” is armed with a gun, has a history of violence and are a convicted felon.

“The incidences and touches by law enforcement, by our observation, tended to be in the African American communities,” Brown said.

The report is redacted, meaning names of officers and other officials were removed and a great deal of information was removed from public viewing.

The findings of the six incidences detailed by Brown included:

• The Nov. 13 shooting of a 16-year-old at 3408 Sheringham Drive, following a pre-dawn raid after police received complaints about drug activity inside the house. The SWAT activity was considered “optional,” but was still used. Brown said the agency did not conduct a genuine evaluation of risk on the public whenever utilizing a SWAT team. Brown said in this incident, the SWAT team – the “most aggressive tool” in a police agencies toolbox – was used due to a manpower shortage. He said the use of deadly force could have been avoided had the raid occurred at another time of the day.
• The March 3 shooting death of Kordell Jones at 856 Charles St., occurred as the agency’s SWAT team showed up to investigate his brother, who was suspected of a crime. Jones was not. During the pre-dawn raid, and with family inside the house, Jones – who was naked at the time and armed with an automatic weapon – fled the house. Police shot and killed him in what Brown said was justified out of concerns that he would be armed and running through the community. Five other people inside the house, all of whom were innocent, were detained and taken to MPD’s headquarters. Brown said their transportation to police headquarters was unconstitutional. One of those transported was a 6-year-old girl. In addition, Brown said that police attempted to “demonize” Brown by conducting a forensic search of Jones’ cell phone. “It was alleged the information was sought so when MPD held a press conference, they could gather facts from the phone about the individual they used deadly force against may have been gang affiliated or a drug dealer,” Brown said. “Those facts are troubling.”
• The July 2 death of Dallas came after police utilized “reasonable” use of force against the 36-year-old Black man while attempting to subdue him after he fled authorities during a burglary investigation in Theodore. Dallas was then placed in handcuffs. “What follows is troubling,” Brown said. Dallas repeatedly asks for medical assistance, called out for water, and claimed he did not feel good and was unable to breathe. “He was told by officers five times to shut the f**k up. He was in distress.” Dallas attempted to roll over onto his back, at which time an officer shouted, “if you move again, I’ll hit you in your mother f**king stomach.” Another officer got into a separate verbal altercation with a female bystander, threatening to “whoop you too.” Said Brown, “How Mr. Dallas was treated in custody was unacceptable.” Dallas also did not receive adequate medical assistance once a Mobile County EMT arrived. “It’s all problematic for an individual in medical distress requesting medical support,” Brown said.
• The Oct. 3 death of Christopher Jones, who was sleeping on a roof when Mobile police showed up and began to belittle him and use profanity to urge him to leave the premises. Jones, as he fled the premises, pulled a gun out and pointed it at a police officer. The officer used deadly force, which Brown said was appropriate given the circumstances. But the fact that it even happened was unnecessary, he said. Jones, who had a mental illness, had been removed from the same rooftop a week earlier without incident. “The MPD dispatch did not share those facts with the officers in responding to the call,” Brown said. “The officers did not have enough community engagement to understand Mr. Jones had perceived mental health issues. The handling of this incident was the opposite of training with mentally ill people at the scene.”
• The Oct. 12, altercation with Beazer Dubose Jr. at a convenience store on Dauphin Island Parkway by an officer working the street enforcement team resulted in excessive use of force, taunting of the suspect, and the use of profanity by police. The police stop was related to the officer’s concerns about Dubose driving with dark-tinted windows. Authorities said at the time that the police officer had to defend himself because Dubose allegedly grabbed his groin and twisted. But according to Brown’s report, the officer “did not complain a single time about pain in his groin area.” Brown said the officer did not seek medical care for three days after the incident, and only went to a doctor after it was posted on social media. The officer did, however, complain about pain to his hand after punching Dubose with a closed fist.
• A 16-year-old Black girl, body slammed by a police officer on Oct. 17, outside ACCEL Academy – a charter school in west Mobile – was the result of “excessive force,” Brown said, and a failure of the officer to de-escalate the situation. The officer involved did not have his body camera turned on at the time. Before the incident happened, the girl had a verbal altercation with a school official was attempting to walk away from him. The school official then allegedly yanked the girl’s hair, turning her body 180-degrees.