Gadsden Mayor Announces $300,000 Plan to Reallocate Funds to Local Crime Fighting

GADSDEN, AL (WBMA) — On Friday, August 23, Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford announced a plan to combat drugs and crime in the city through annual funding.

According to the mayor, the plan calls for an annual redistribution of $300,000 in city funds and personnel from Etowah County back to the Gadsden Police Department.

“A lot has changed in 20 years,” said Ford. “Gadsden taxpayers have footed the bill for the [Etowah] County Sheriff's Office while drugs continue to take lives and ruin families in Gadsden. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well, I'm going to put an end to the insanity. We need to clean up the streets of Gadsden! If the Sheriff's Office funding isn't enough to get the job done, we're going to do it ourselves.”

The Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit was established in 2005 and consists of 12 agents from the Etowah County Sheriff's Office, Gadsden Police Department and the FBI.

Ford informed Etowah County District Attorney Jody Willoughby that he intended to terminate Gadsden's involvement with the Drug Enforcement Unit to free up funds to support this new plan.

The unit costs the City of Gadsden $120,000 annually, which is one-third of the unit's total funding.

The decision followed a meeting with judges, mayors, legislators and county law enforcement leaders to discuss the rising costs of housing criminals in the jail operated by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office.

The money saved by leaving the unit will now be used to combat drug crimes and law enforcement in the city.

“The crime problem in Etowah County is the sheriff's concern,” Ford said. “I am responsible for the city of Gadsden. As long as I am mayor, we will use every means at our disposal to keep the streets of Gadsden clean.”