Mobile could appoint new permanent chief after turmoil in job earlier this year

Mobile could have a permanent police chief more than 4-1/2 months since former Chief Paul Prine was fired from the job over a high profile and public spat with the city’s mayor.

William “Randy” Jackson, who has been the interim chief since Prine was placed on administrative leave in April, has been named by Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson as his choice for the permanent position.

Jackson, before he became interim chief, served as the deputy police chief and has been with the agency for 28 years.

If appointed, Jackson will serve as chief for an agency with more than 456 officers — expected to increase to 489 later this year — and a budget of around $72.5 million.

“When Chief Randy Jackson took over as interim chief five months ago, I expressed my full confidence in his ability to lead the department,” Stimpson said in a statement. “In that time, he has risen to the occasion and shown character and stability during a challenging time.”

Stimpson continued, “At the time of his appointment, I met individually with the command staff. Since then, I have visited with hundreds of line officers during their annual in-service training to hear directly about their concerns and their hopes for the department. Chief Jackson has a vision for policing in our community that will effectively fight crime while also building public trust. Chief Jackson does not just have my full support; I’m confident that he has the support of the department and the community he has faithfully served for 29 years.”

Council questions

The council could vote on Jackson’s appointment during its regular meeting on Tuesday as long as there is an unanimous consent to do so. Any one member of the council can choose to wait for a week before having a full council vote on the hiring.

Councilman Ben Reynolds said he is supportive of the new chief and is prepared to see him voted into the position during Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’ve had many meeting with Randy since the time I’ve been in office and he’s always been open to the suggestions that come from me and frankly he’s gotten the job done,” Reynolds said. “It provides us with some stability and security. You have someone on the force who has been there a number of years. They understand how the police force works and the ins and outs of the operation.”

Councilman William Carroll said he might prefer seeing the appointment held over for another week so council members and the public can better understand his background and history.

“I think people want to see what he’s about and what his strengths and weaknesses are, and people want to see his background and history,” Carroll said. “I would think it’s a get-to-know process (where) everyone will take a deep dive into all of the information we have on him on and go from there.”

Jackson, a native of Chickasaw, began his career as a police cadet in September 1995 and has progressed his way through the ranks within the Mobile Police Department. Aside from Assistant Police Chief, Jackson has served in the rank of major, commanding the Field Operations Division as well as the Investigative Operations Division. He has supervised in areas of patrol, criminal investigations, traffic safety, narcotics & vice, and for several years worked as a task force officer on the DEA Drug Task Force.

According to a police bio, Jackson has been the recipient of the Wounded in Service award, multiple Chief’s Unit awards and received the Officer of the Month award following his very first month as a solo police officer in 1997. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the FBI – Law Enforcement Executive Development Association and has previously served as a board member for the Mobile Police & Fire Pension Board.

Jackson’s salary will be $146,208, although if the city’s fiscal year 2025 budget is approved Tuesday, it will increase to $149,863 due to a cost-of-living increase for city employees. Prine was making $146,208 at the time of his firing.

Turmoil

Jackson’s hiring would also prevent an outside search for a police chief months after the contentious and highly public blow up between Prine and Stimpson over a host of issues including intelligence-led and cyber policing.

The council voted unanimously on April 30, to terminate Prine from the police chief role. The termination occurred after Stimpson placed Prine on administrative leave on April 9, igniting several weeks of an unusual and public back-and-forth between the mayor and a member of his administration over a messy exit from city government.

Prine was removed from his position as chief following a process that began last November shortly after the Stimpson administration hired former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown to investigate the policies and procedures on the use of force within the Mobile Police Department.

Brown’s report was released in April and illustrated a host of damaging claims of illegal behavior, aggressive and demeaning tactics by Mobile police in handling arrests with Black residents. Of the six cases examined by Brown, four of them resulted in fatal encounters with a police officer.

The report also blasted Prine’s leadership style, concluding that his recent behavior since April 9 was “emblematic of his autocratic tendencies” that can be connected to creating a police culture with unconstitutional and demeaning behavior toward Black residents. Prine discredited the report as being “a very poor investigation that was certainly one-sided.”

Reynolds said that Jackson, unlike Prine, appears to have a good working relationship with Stimpson and Chief of Staff James Barber and Rob Lasky, the city’s executive director of public safety.

Reynolds said that whether the public “likes it or not,” a crucial aspect for the police chief role is to have a good working relationship with others in the administration.

“I feel comfortable they have a good enough working relationship to keep the main thing as the main thing which is public safety and protecting our citizens from criminals,” he said.

Reynolds also credited Jackson for addressing the issues within the Gulf Coast Technology Center that led to the firing in July of its former head Kevin Levy amid concerns raised by Prine.

A third-party investigation, authorized by the council in April, found in July that Levy provided false testimony during the special counsel’s investigation. In addition, the investigation found that Levy’s actions on a signature page on a document rose to the level of tampering with government documents, a violation of state law, according to an attorney the council hired to look into Prine’s concerns.

“It’s my understanding the issues with the GTC are resolved and there are no chain of command issues as it stands,” Reynolds said. “That seems to be resolved. I think he played a significant role in resolving that issue.”

This story was updated at 6:17 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2024, to include salary information for the police chief.