U of A Huntsville Police Chief, Captain, Officer Removed from Department

A traffic stop of a Black teen prompted an investigation of the agency, which then led to the chief’s, captain’s and officer’s dismissal by UAH.

U of A Huntsville Police Chief, Captain, Officer Removed from Department

Huntsville, Alabama – On Tuesday, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) announced its police chief, a captain and an officer were no longer with the school’s police department. The removal of the three was prompted by the officer’s October 3 traffic stop of Caleb Crutcher, 17.

The officer pulled over Crutcher for a cracked headlight. According to a Facebook post by the teen’s mother, “The officer referred to my 17-year-old as ‘brother’ and asked several times if he had any weed or crack or drugs or a dead prostitute in his car. They asked him why he was sweating. (A Mother’s Cry: Because he’s NEVER been in ANY trouble!)”

In response to the incident, UA System Chancellor Finis St. John and UAH President Darren Dawson appointed UA System Director of Security Steven D. Anderson to serve as Interim Police Chief of the UAHPD.

According to a statement from the school, Anderson “conducted a thorough review of UAHPD policies and procedures. As a result, structural, procedural and personnel changes have been implemented. The former chief of police, the former police captain, and the officer involved in the October 3, 2020, traffic stop that sparked these discussions are no longer employed by UAH.”

The school has begun a national search for a new police chief. Additionally, UAHPD officers received more training in the fall, and the training program will be expanded this year. The training covers Identifying Implicit and Explicit Bias, De-Escalation Techniques, Community Policing and more.

UAH also created a police advisory council, and students, faculty and staff will serve on it.

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About the Author

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Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.

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2 responses to “U of A Huntsville Police Chief, Captain, Officer Removed from Department”

  1. Mark Manthei says:

    With all the bad media about Law Enforcement how stupid can you get UAH. Back in my day we had common sense but apparently not now. What would make you think that was a good idea to say that to someone of any color on a traffic stop.

  2. KEVIN CURRAN says:

    I’m article does nothing to explain why they were removed. It’s common practice to ask about drugs or weapons in a vehicle.

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