By Nathan Prewett
For the Tribune
CENTER POINT — Safety in Center Point has been a contentious issue for the city’s government and for the citizens in recent times. The issue has been brought up in past city council meetings, some of them even leading to heated words.
Center Point’s history in the past few years has been marked with incidents of crime in the city, notably with shootings, including an incident at a carnival last year that left six people with injuries.
“Every effort is being made to make them safe by us and the sheriff’s department,” said Center Point Mayor Thomas Henderson at an open house of Hillcrest Manor in late March.
Outside Hillcrest Manor that day was a group called the Center Point Action Committee that expressed their disagreements with the city’s handling of crime, as well as expenditures for projects, traffic cameras and “inadequate lighting” in the streets, among other things.
Crime in the city was of particular interest for the group.
“Our main thing is that we feel that this council who has been in office since 2002 has done nothing to really help our city,” said Jimmy Tidwell, who is the chairman of the committee. “We don’t feel safe. Our property value has really declined. It’s just a dangerous place to be.”
“It’s just sad that people don’t care,” he said. “We are here to hopefully revitalize care for this city. We want people to care. We just want them to be interested. This is their home. They want a better future. We need it to be safe, we need it to be cleaned up and we feel that expenditures up to his point is moot. It does not help us at all in protecting our families.”
Tidwell criticized the purchase of the Hilldale Baptist Church property by the city government, which will be re-purposed as a community center, as well as the Hillcrest Manor wedding venue. Council President Roger Barlow commented on the city’s expenditures
“I’d like to have a utopian city,” he said. “But that’s not realistic. We’re doing the best that we can. We have the senior center, the library, the splash pad – we can’t stop all of those and focus on one thing.”
Tidwell spoke on the lack of a police department in the city, an issue that has been brought up in previous council meetings and has been a subject of some debate. Center Point currently does not have a police department and relies on the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.
“And because we don’t, we feel that that brings in the crime,” Tidwell said.
Tidwell said that his and his neighbors’ homes have been broken into “numerous times”, causing friends to fear coming to Center Point, especially at night. He and his wife, Nancy, also spoke of gunshots that occur in the neighborhood.
Nancy Tidwell said that, in her opinion, a department would help in curbing the incidents of gun shooting if there are officers patrolling the area.
An issue voiced by members of the committee is the response for reports of gunfire from Sheriff’s Deputies.
“The deputies that we have – it seems to me that they’re just here to enforce ordinance but they’re not here to enforce the criminal law,” said CPAC member Lenora Battle, who also expressed her concerns on illegal dumping, which is also outlined in the group’s list of complaints with the city.
“If anybody has any positive comments, I’m all ears,” Barlow commented. “We have plenty of people who appreciate us.”
Henderson said that the local government has made efforts to protect the citizens, citing some purchases of video surveillance trailers located at certain points of the city that he said has “calmed down” crimes in areas. He also said that deputies from the sheriff’s office regularly patrol the area.
“Whether we have a police department or sheriff’s department, there are first responders,” he said. “They can’t be everywhere. They can’t stop all the crime, but they’ll respond. And hopefully when they make an arrest that will discourage the criminals from being out here. If they know they’re going to get caught out here, then they’re less likely to be here.”
Henderson brought up a study being conducted by the Department of Justice that has been discussed at meetings of the city council. The study examines crime statistics and is expected to help in making proposals to reduce crime.
“There are 63 deputies that work this area and there are always deputies other than the four patrolling Center Point in the northeast, northwest, down the parkway,” he said. “And there’s extra patrols now, so I don’t what else they want us to do. We’re making every effort we can to improve the safety of the citizens.”
Henderson cited an example of a shootout that occurred at a Walgreens in which sheriff’s deputies arrested several people.
“They had those people in custody within 15 minutes, so they’re there, working,” he said.
When asked if there was a police department in the future of Center Point, Henderson said that it will take some time before the city can have one of its own.
“The future’s a long way off,” he said. “Right now, we’re working with [the sheriff’s department] to do the best we can. We put in for two additional contract deputies so we’re waiting on the response from the sheriff’s department. It took Clay a little while to get there, I’m sure we’ve got to be a little patient.”