A key to a healthy community as population continues to rise is a continued emphasis on public safety, Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks and other local leaders have said.

The News Courier spoke with both Limestone County Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin and Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson about how they are handling changes in the community with continued population growth.

Crime trends

Chief Johnson said in the last year he thinks law enforcement has seen more serious crimes than the city or county has seen in a while. But as far as how that increase relates to growth, that depends on how you look at it, he said. He explained most offenders and victims are local. There are a few who aren’t from the area, but he said it’s always been that way.

In the last year or so, he said homicide rates have increased.

“I think that’s the number one thing that really bothers me,” he said.

McLaughlin also said violent crimes are increasing as well.

“I do believe that just comes with the growth. It’s not the whole thing, but it’s a factor,” the sheriff said.

Assault rates are also on the rise, though he said he does not think it has been as drastic in the numbers. The News Courier is working on gathering data from both departments to track crime trends in recent years.

Chief Johnson said there’s been a decline in the winter months but that he has seen a trend in increasing crimes of breaking and entering vehicles over a few years and doesn’t anticipate that going away. He says he’s seen them occurring most in two ways: Cars that are left unlocked that a suspect may just try to get into and broken windows when items may have been left visible.

Sheriff McLaughlin also said that there are more thefts and burglaries.

“I’d say we’ve had an uptick in vehicle thefts over the last couple of years, and I don’t know if that’s due to the population growth or due to the common crime trend that’s going on right now,” he said.

He also mentioned more drug crimes.

“It’s the same crimes,” he said. “Some of them are different drugs. You got all this synthetic stuff that they’re adding to it.”

He said he believes the majority of Limestone’s crime stems from narcotics.

“Anytime we can pull a drug dealer off the road or an amount of narcotics off the road it’s absolutely going to help with the majority of our crimes. I don’t think there’s a single law enforcement officer out there that would argue that. Most of the sheriffs out there feel the same way that I’ve talked to,” he said.

The city recently established one officer to handle drug crimes and work with the county on those efforts.

“We continuously solve crimes that relate back to drugs,” McLaughlin said. That would be some thefts and burglaries as well as most of the unlawful breaking and entering cases, essentially most property crimes.

Chief Johnson hopes to have at least two officers handling those specialized cases when they are back to a full staff; depending on the need it could be more. He said the growth can be seen in how the departments are preparing for change by growing themselves.

Staff and community

“Everybody’s trying to grow, and everybody’s trying to prepare,” Johnson said.

Limestone County is working on finishing part of the jail expansion. The original plan was for the capacity to be for 25 beds; now in new talks with a contractor, the sheriff said he hopes with some alterations to the plans they will be able to house 75 inmates.

“We absolutely need it,” McLaughlin said. “Unfortunately, with the population growth the crime rate goes up, and hopefully this will satisfy our needs for the next several years.”

He said the warmer months tend to have a higher volume of inmates.

“Last summer we got to where we had to slow down on serving warrants and doing other things that needed to be served,” McLaughlin said. “You just had to prioritize what you were doing, because we didn’t have places to keep individuals.”

The county houses the inmates from city arrests as well as their own.

“It takes a lot of money to operate a good jail facility,” Chief Johnson said. “I think they do a good job with it. … I think there’s going to be a demand down the road for it. I admire them for preparing.”

Johnson said he thinks they are seeing growth outpace them, because around the time COVID began law enforcement jobs were not viewed with the premiere lens they once were.

There was a period of time where he said people viewed police on a national level in a less favorable light, and he recognized that things would continue to happen out of their control but said they always try to be different.

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“We want to be reactive and responsive, but mostly we want to be responsible and respectable to the community.”

Floyd Johnson

Athens Police Chief

“We hope we’re different enough here that we do a good enough job to present to people that we are not that way,” he said. “We want to be reactive and responsive, but mostly we want to be responsible and respectable to the community.”

With COVID and people leaving the profession, he said applicant pools dried up.

“It became very hard,” he said. “It’s just now releasing a little bit. We’re beginning to see more applications.”

He said they are doing better but still looking to staff up about 10 positions but have a few of those who are in the hiring process.

“It’s kind of a check, a recheck, and another check. We’re trying to make sure we’re doing the best we can for the citizens to get the best person we can for the job. Can’t just hire anybody and put a gun and a badge on them. You have to be careful with that,” Johnson said.

McLaughlin said staffing at the jail is good but there are still several open positions. Four of those positions became available thanks to a grant this year, but it can be a challenge to fill those positions, which echoes what Johnson said. Once those are filled, McLaughlin does believe they will be doing “very well.” He does think the department needs to grow in patrol and investigations.

“On both sides we definitely need help,” the sheriff said. “We are way behind the ball.”

Chief Johnson similarly said, “we’re a little behind, but we’re still trying,” in terms of continuing to grow as the population grows.

“I think we’re being progressive. I think we’re going to have to continue to be. The good part about what we’ve been able to do with the backing of the council and the mayor is that we’ve been able to work toward a goal,” Johnson said. “And we’re still working that way. But, we’re not maxed out yet as far as the citizens go. Everything they said is coming is not here yet.”

Sheriff McLaughlin said, to start with, he’s looking at a need to open up more jobs. He said he has asked for four officers and two investigators.

“That would help us. But, it’s not even close to what we need,” he said.

Investigators are looking at around 50 cases a month he said.

“Even the most simple case that’s almost open and shut takes anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours to prepare it for court,” the sheriff said. “You can imagine how difficult it is to handle that kind of case load and our call volumes.”

But despite the challenges, both of the law enforcement leaders would tell the community that it’s the people of their departments that allow them to still provide the necessary service to the community. Sheriff McLaughlin said the staff at the sheriff’s department is dedicated and cares about their community.

“We’re thankful for what we have. The positions we have and the equipment we have, and we’ll do the best we can with what we have,” McLaughlin said. “We do have a county commission that knows that we’re there, and they’re working towards meeting the needs.”

Chief Johnson said it’s the officers and staff of the department and their everyday actions, along with the partnerships with other local law enforcement, that make them most effective.

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“We always know we’re just a phone call away.”

Joshua McLaughlin

Limestone County Sheriff

“We have to work together. I’m proud of the relationship that we have with other departments,” Johnson said.

McLaughlin also said, “We all got each other’s back. We always know we’re just a phone call away.”

“We do more with Athens as a PD than anybody else,” the sheriff said. “We have a great working relationship. We meet with them regularly. They call us if they need us. We call them if we need them. We’re always right there for each other.”

He said they work similarly with other city police departments that fall within Limestone County as well: Huntsville, Madison, Decatur, and Ardmore.

“They’re all in Limestone County and they have their jurisdictions, but they care about every citizen in the state. Anybody that they can help, they’re going to be willing to help,” McLaughlin said.

Johnson agreed that no matter where they are based out of all law enforcement works together.

“The only thing that separates us is an invisible line,” he said. “These people that are out there, they don’t pay attention to those lines. They can’t see them … But, we serve the same people and we chase the same people.”