Sand Mountain Reporter

Albertville police Chief Benny Womack knows the role of a policeman has changed over the years, but it’s still a job he loves.

“I could go back 10 years, even before I was chief, and tell you the biggest challenge for any police department, especially this one, is our ever-changing society.

“The demands on law enforcement are more than they have ever been.”

He said the job has become more hazardous and crimes that used to be reserved for 2 a.m. on a Saturday night are now being committed at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning.

“I could go back a number of years and I could tell you when our call volume would be the most, at certain times of the year and certain times during the week … and it would always be night shift.

“Today, that is not necessarily so.”

He said he has seen the day shift’s call volume be larger than the night shift’s volume.

Traffic safety checkpoints are an important tool Womack implemented. Officers frequently set up checkpoints to verify drivers hold valid licenses and current insurance coverage. Often times, officers discover drivers without licenses or who are wanted on outstanding warrants.

“It kind of disappoints me that people are overlooking the real issue here,” he said.

“The real issue is doing what we did from 2007 to 2008, which is lower the accident rate by 13 percent and I credit the officers on the good job they have done, which is getting the unskilled drivers off of the street – no matter who they are.

“A lot of people forget these are traffic safety checkpoints; that name implies something. And, what it implies is these officers doing something to make our streets safer every day.

“We get drug traffickers and drug dealers through those checkpoints. We get people with outstanding warrants. Almost every time we have one.

“And, that’s what the name implies — traffic safety checkpoint.”

On a personal note, Womack said he still enjoys coming to work every day.

“I’ve told a lot of people this. My real love for law enforcement begins out on the street in a patrol car in a uniform. My real love for law enforcement is not sitting here behind this desk shining my seat here.

“If I could make what I would be making now out on the street, I would be in a patrol car, even as old as I am, working the streets in the patrol division. That’s where my real love is.”

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Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

Tel: 256-840-3000 | Email

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