More than a dozen Birmingham police officers have been terminated for some incidents involving excessive force or unauthorized force and another 39 have been suspended for disciplinary reasons over the past two years, Chief Patrick Smith said on Wednesday during a virtual press conference with Mayor Randall Woodfin and other officials.

“I listened to [the community] two years ago and [was told] there were officers in this department who should not be here because of the interactions they have with the community, how the community was treated,” Smith said, “I made sure that we had a standard for accountability . . . I’ve made sure that we retrained our internal affairs unit, that we are conducting comprehensive investigations and updated our policy and procedures.”

In addition to 16 officers who were terminated, seven others resigned while being investigated; 25 received additional training and 12 sent to counseling in order to maintain a department that is accountable, Smith said.

During the hour-long press conference Smith, Woodfin, Birmingham City Councilor Hunter Williams, Chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee and Birmingham Fraternal Order of Police President Lt. Richard Haluska, addressed policing in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed by Minneapolis police last month.

Two years ago I began addressing crime in the city of Birmingham, officer accountability, department policy and procedure and community, quality of life issues.”

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