NAPIER FIELD ALABAMA: Is it law enforcement and court justice or law enforcement and court extortion? IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE – is that something law enforcement and the court states to citizens, or does that statement apply to law enforcement and the court system?
Recent www.rickeystokesnews.com investigations into law enforcement, Magistrate and Municipal Court Judge in Napier Field has brought some major questionable activities in this Dale County municipality. Napier Field was incorporated in September 1968. The square miles for the own is listed as 0.3 square miles. The 2022 population is listed as 413. The town officials are Mayor Thomas “Buddy” Skeen, Council Members Charles Klein, Greg Seay, Bill Day, and Marlin (Prince) Petersen. The Town Clerk is Traci Ballard and the Napier Field Police Chief is Charles Duncan.
The Napier Field web site reflects the Napier Field Police Department as having a Chief of Police and Investigator Aaron Cook, Patrol Officers Daniel Sanders, Officer Milton Martin, and Officer Virgil Westrick.
The municipal court judge for Napier Field is a private practicing attorney Barbara Wallace Wade. She once served as Municipal Court Judge in Daleville but no longer serves there. She is in private law practice in Ozark, Alabama.
ISSUE: The Town of Grimes, which is 1.25 square miles with a population listed as 459 in 2000, once contracted with Napier Field to handle their law enforcement duties. According to information provided, the Town of Grimes cancelled that contract and contracted with Midland City to handle the law enforcement duties for Grimes. However, Napier Field Police are reported to continue to make traffic stops and issue citations in Grimes City limits. According to the Town Clerk of Napier Field it falls within the police jurisdiction of Napier Field.
Grimes is a small municipality and has 1.5 square miles of police jurisdiction outside their city limits. For Napier Field Police to reach the city limits of Grimes they have to cross the city limits of Dothan. And a definitive answer has not been given if the 1.5 miles of police jurisdiction exists if you have to cross another municipality. The Napier Field Town Clerk, very rudely, states Grimes is inside Napier Field Police jurisdiction. RSN has been unable to get a definitive answer from someone with legal knowledge. All of the revenue from tickets issued by Napier Field in Grimes City Limits goes to Napier Field and court cases are before Napier Field Municipal Court Judge Barbara Wallace Wade.
ISSUE: Dothan Municipal Airport and Wallace Community College are situated in Dale County but are in the city limits of Dothan, Alabama. Recently Napier Field Police made a traffic stop on Airport Avenue and Daniels Drive. These are in the city limits of Dothan. Dothan Airport has a police department. The person stopped refused the field sobriety tests the Napier Field Police Officer wanted to conduct and refused to answer questions from the Napier Field Police Officer. The person stopped is not required to answer the questions “RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT” and are not mandated by law to take the field sobriety test. The traffic stop also falls under the same question RSN has been unable to get a legal answer to: does Napier Field have jurisdiction in the City Limits of Dothan Alabama? The Napier Field Police Officer arrested the man and placed him in the Dale County Jail. The officer set a $2,500 cash-only bond.
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE applies to law enforcement and the court system also. A municipal law enforcement officer has ZERO authority to set a bond in a municipal court case in excess of $1,000. So the bond set by the Napier Field Police Officer was an illegal bond, and the Napier Field Police Officer had no legal authority to do so.
Napier Field Municipal Court Judge Barbara Wallace Wade attempted to hold an initial appearance sometime later through ZOOM but was unable to do so; the municipal judge instead held it in just a phone call. Apparently the Judge realized the Napier Field Police Officer had violated the law himself and the Judge changed the $ 2,500 cash-only bond to a $500 cash-only bond. However, in review of the Rules of Criminal Procedure regarding bonds, the defendant did not fall under any circumstance where the bond justified a “CASH ONLY” bond. Arrested on Friday, finally on Sunday the Defendant paid the $500 cash-only bond. Then when he went to get his vehicle it was at a wrecker service in Ozark. He found out he was required to pay to Napier Field a $500 cash IMPOUND FEE plus $300 to the wrecker service in order to get his car. The car was not in any impound lot belonging to Napier Field but was located at the wrecker service. So Napier Field charged $500 impound fee for calling a wrecker.
ISSUE: Recently a lady was reported to have been stopped in Napier Field. The lady had moved here and had an out of state license plate, reported to be current, on her vehicle. She had never registered her vehicle locally because the license plate was still current. According to information provided Napier Field Police had her car impounded by the same wrecker service as the above mentioned. The lady was charged a $250 IMPOUND FEE by Napier Field and the wrecker service charged a $250 fee for towing the vehicle. Again this vehicle was at the wrecker service in Ozark and never at any impound lot of Napier Field.
THE QUESTION REMAINS … the pattern and practice of Napier Field Police, is it law enforcement or extortion of money by Napier Field Police and Napier Field Municipal Court?
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS HAVE ARREST AUTHORITY in other jurisdictions. That is without question. An example, Dothan Police arrested a man near Cottonwood one night. A legal arrest. However the case could not be placed in Dothan Municipal Court but had to be placed in Houston County District Court. The Napier Field Police Officer could make an arrest, but the question remains, do they have the jurisdiction to place it in Napier Field Municipal Court rather than Dale County District Court? Are the actions called CASH REGISTER LAW ENFORCEMENT or serving and protecting as it should?
Napier Field has very little commercial business to finance the police department. They can get revenue from the cash only-bonds when arrests are made and the impound fees. The City of Dothan, a certified law enforcement agency, does not charge an impound fee, and they have limits on the fees a wrecker service can charge for the tow of the vehicle.
NAPIER FIELD POLICE ORDER REFLECTING THE ILLEGAL BOND SET AT $2,500 CASH ONLY
THE RED DOT IS WHERE THE TRAFFIC STOP WAS MADE, NOT IN THE MUNICIPAL CITY LIMITS OF NAPIER FIELD, BUT IN THE CITY LIMITS OF DOTHAN ALABAMA
