Part Two of Sheriff Paul Burch on the Uncle Henry Show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
It says the Uncle Henry Show here on news radio
seven to ten WNTM. My guest this hour is Sheriff
Paul Birch. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch. In the last
segment of the show, Sheriff, I asked you what was
it's the hardest part of the job, and you talked
about doing sitting at the desk doing paperwork.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
You'd rather be out and about.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Because that's what you've done your whole career is you've
been out and about doing all these things.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It is.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
I like being out there with our team. I like
being out in the community talking with people, and you know,
that's that's what makes the office work because I've learned
that each area of the county, whether it be North Mobile,
South Mobile, have different needs and if you're not out
there engaging with the community, you're not aware of what

(00:59):
they specific need.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, if I if I were trying to imagine what
I would find to be the hardest part of being
the sheriff, I'm thinking the thing that would probably cause
me the most grief this would be me personally, would
be running the jail.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
How hard?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
How hard is it to get that under control? And
get your mind wrapped around that, because that's that that
to me, seems completely different from from a lot of
what you have to do in other arenas of being sheriff.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
The jail, I would say, is the most challenging part
of the job. You know, we're significantly overcrowded and you
know that's not going to change as long as you know,
people committing crime. And and we're out of real estate downtown,
so right, you know, we can't make more room or build,
you know, build more facilities, but you know that were

(01:49):
there because of the overcrowding, and there are fights every day.
We had three stabbings last week. You in the jail,
and that's where the majority of our lawsuits come from.
And now ninety nine percent of them are you know,
not legitimate lawsuits. There are those few that are legit,

(02:10):
and we've had a couple recently that the corrections officers
use excessive force unnecessarily and every square inch of that
jail is covered by camera, and that's something we take
very seriously, and usually the disciplinary action is pretty severe
in those kinds of cases because it again, that's just

(02:31):
another lawsuit that's you can't defend. I mean, it's all
on camera and and we stress that with the corrections officers. Now,
that's a tough job. I wouldn't want to do it.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, I was.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I was that was going to be a question that
one of my my next questions was going to be
how do you find people to work there? Because that
would be from a psychological standpoint, would be just tough.
Forget what you're getting paid, just the daily task.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
It's the the UH turnover rates pretty high and you know,
and what does keep the corrections aucer going is, you know,
we try to provide many of their needs that they
asked for scheduling wise, but you know, they make more
money than deputies do. But that is a tough, tough job.

(03:19):
And you know, I can't say enough about the corrections
officers who endure that every day because they're locked up
with the bad guys, you know, twelve hours a day.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I would think a great deterrent for the young up
and coming criminal would be taken when they're about sixteen,
seventeen years old and just parade them through there and
see what it's like inside there. That would I think
that would scare it. We've heard of scared straight. That
would scare me.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Straight. It just seeing what it's like in there.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
At that age, it would would have me too. So
the I got in trouble when I was a juveniles
in a fight and had to go down to the
youth center. Yeah, and of course I didn't know at
the time one of my dad's cousins rented, so they
purposely left me there over the weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Oh okay, all.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Right, throughout the night people's banging on the doors, which
I'm sure in hindsight that was done on purpose. That
was all I needed to know. I never wanted to
hear about.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
That, all right, I've never heard this story about you before.
So when you were a teenager, you got in a fight,
and I know from the last time you were here
your family has been involved in law enforcement. Yes, so
they wanted to teach you a lesson when they taught
me was and so they left you for a weekend
in Strickland.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
And Strickland Youth Center. Okay, in a little cell by myself.
And but like I said, I did not sleep at all.
I was terrified.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Now before that happened, before you got in that fight
and got put in that youth center, did you want
to be in law enforcement? Before then, had you already
seen what the family was doing and thought, I think
I want to be in law enforcement too.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
I did, And I'll make that story really fast. When
I was growing up, going through high school, Mobile PD
would not hire you until you were twenty three years old.
So I seventeen. I signed up for five years in
the Navy, so i'd be twenty three when I got out.
So got out with that planet already applied to Mobile PD. Well,

(05:15):
they had a hiring freeze, So went to Montgomery for
a little over a year and a half, and then
when Mobile started hiring again, came back to Mobile and
I've been here ever since.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
But you you wanted to be in law enforcement before
you got in that fight, wasn't.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I was in middle school in that fight.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Okay, Well so when you were in that in that
youth center, you weren't thinking of mind, I've destroyed my
life plan. Now I'm never I'm never going to be
in law enforcement because now here I'm with the inmates.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I'm an inmate.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
That never crossed my mind.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
I just want to get home, Okay, You want to
get home and not get into more fights, That's right,
all right? Well that is uh so that really made
a huge impression on you. Do you do you have
you thought about that as the guy in charge of
the jail every now and again.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Hey, I've been in a cel before, I.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Have, and you know, but I also look at you know,
Strickland is a much different place now, you know it
from that was a very very long time ago. But
right now they are so overcrowded and the employees there
are very overworked. It's it's it's a tough system. I
think there's a much greater need than what they're able

(06:22):
to fund, and they and they're entire need of a
new facility. And it's you know, I hope change will
come with that in the future.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Okay, now sure, the last time you were here you
taught me that. My my concept, what I think I
know about drug abuse and the drug trade in Mobile
County is like thirty to forty years old. It's it's outdated.
My concepts are outdated. So I wanted to ask you

(06:51):
just a very basic question is where if people are
abusing drugs in Mobile County, and we know some are,
where do those drugs come from? Are are any of
them grown or manufactured here? Or are they all from
somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, there are multiple answers to that question, but most
of it originates from Mexico or either from China to Mexico.
We're talking fentanyl and meth. They're processed in Mexico and
then brought across the border. Now, locally there are people
who will get say powder fentanyl and put it, press

(07:25):
it into a pill form, you know, and that that
can be done in some my home and so we
have seen some of that, but overall most of it
comes from Mexico.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, is fentanyl the number one drug problem here or
are there other drugs that people are on?

Speaker 3 (07:45):
I would say cocaine is right up there with fentanyl,
but you know, fentanyl is by far the most deadly.
And you know, and that's nationally, not just here. And
you know, it was a significant problem a couple of
years ago with overdoses and then we saw a downward

(08:05):
trend because I mean, I know here locally and in
the southeast, the judges in the DA's office around are
really really tough on those type of cases, as they
should be. And there were some laws passed that if
you're the ones setting it, you're going to jail form
anslaughter if somebody overdoses, but we saw a downward trend,

(08:29):
you know, for probably eight nine months, but we've started
to see a couple more overdoses here in the last
few weeks. And you know, I just I don't know.
There's a lot of education, a lot of publicity about fentanyl.
It really is like Russian roulette. And I don't know
why anyone would would take the risk of knowingly taking

(08:51):
something that has been in it.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Sure, if we got about one minute before our next break,
you also mentioned cocaine. Does that also come from outside
of the country.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
It does, you know, Mexico, Columbia, but all comes through
the border from Mexico.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Okay, So has there been a change since we've had
more border security in the last year.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Absolutely there has, And we've seen a decrease in the
availability of it, which drives up the price of it.
And that's for those who are distributing and for the consumers.
And ventanyl is super cheap, and that's why I think
you see a lot of people go to the fentanyl
instead of cocaine and other drugs.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
All right, We're going to take a quick time out
for traffic, weather and words from our sponsors, and then
We'll have a final segment here with Mobile County Sheriff
Paul Burtch. If you want to listen back to our conversation.
This show available as a podcast. You can listen to
that podcast on the iHeartRadio app or at NewsRadio seven
to ten dot com. Just look for Uncle Henry's show

(09:54):
on the iHeartRadio app The Uncle Henry Show, News Radio
seven to ten WNTM News headlines coming up in ten
minutes before we get there, we have our final moments
here with Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch, and the last

(10:15):
segment of the show, I was asking you, Sheriff about
drugs where they.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Come from in Mobile County.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
You talked about fentanyl and cocaine. What about marijuana? Where
does that come from? Also from south of the border
or is it coming from everywhere?

Speaker 3 (10:33):
It's coming from everywhere, you know. You know, obviously California
they grow it legally, and Colorado and they are, uh,
we do see a lot of that on the interstate,
you know, coming from that. We made a huge marijuana
arrest yesterday and the individual involved was out out on
bond for murder and attempted murder. But you know, they

(10:57):
about a month long investigation. We ended up with about
six little over sixteen pounds of marijuana, some synthetic marijuana
drug paraferne is, some guns, and some cash. So and
that stuff was already vacuum sealed, so it came from somewhere. Obviously,
this individual's not cooperating, nor would we care to talk

(11:18):
to him because of his existing charges.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Sureff, you've mentioned fendal and cocaine. I brought up marijuana.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Are there other.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Drugs circulating in Mobile County?

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Just pills?

Speaker 3 (11:32):
A variety of prescription type pills, and some of those
are legitimate pills. Most of them are have ventelon them,
and those are the people that with the pills have
usually had some type of injury or something like that
and just abuse them. And then the perscriptions run out

(11:54):
and they seek those something similar on the street. And
that's where a lot of the overdoses come in.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Uh, how dangerous is that? I mean, you you think
you're buying a pill that is one thing, and there's
really no way of knowing what you're actually getting.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
It's you know, it's extremely dangerous. And again, I you know,
I can't really say I understand the addition because I've
never experienced that personally, but I've seen it. You know.
Actually we were talking about drugs and this, that and
the other. You know, my brother stays in and out
of jail, and he just left Tuesday going rehab for
six months, hopefully out a fixing. But you know it's

(12:31):
in his choice was a drug or choice was meth
and then then pills. But it just it really is
Russian roulette if you take a pill that didn't come
from a pharmacy.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Now we're we've only got a few minutes left here
in in this uh, in this hour with you, Sheriff Birch.
A few years ago, I interviewed UH the then district
Attorney Ashley Ridge, and I asked her if she was
ever out and about in the grocery store and would
recognize people that she had prosecuted. And she said yes,

(13:07):
and she said a lot of times that's why she
liked to get her groceries UH brought to the car.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
And so I'm just curious.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
You've been you, you and your family, you've been in
this for your entire adult life. Are you ever out
in about and go, hey, I think I think I
arrested that guy, or hey, I think I arrested that guy.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Does that happen to you too?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Every day?

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Every day, every day?

Speaker 3 (13:31):
And you know, I've probably only had one or two
negative interactions. I can't tell you the number of times.
And this was just recently and my daughter happened to
be with me where you know, I recognize a guy's face.
You know, there have been a lot of people something
necessarily remember names, right, but you know they'll and it's
usually drug cases. That's what I used to do a lot,

(13:51):
and they'll walk up and shake my hand and say, look,
you know, I want to thank you for saving my life.
Otherwise I'd be in prison for the rest of my
life or dead. So that that happens a lot. And
I think that all comes from even though I have
arrested many many people over the years, I was always
fair in kind unless you make me be not kind, well, right,

(14:12):
but but I believe every day I treated people like
people and treated them fair, and it paid dividends, you
know in the end. You know, I know, I know
we can't get into political things. But when I ran
the first time, you know, years ago, I had two
people working on my campaign putting out signs that I
sent to federal prison. They came to me and asked

(14:32):
if they could help with my campaign.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Now, see, this is not the answer I expected to get.
So you, not only do you recognize people almost every
day that you have had to arrest, but many of
them want to thank you because because it was that
arrest turned things around for them.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
I mean, like I said, it happens often. And I say,
it's been witnessed by my daughter, by my wife and daughter,
you know, because obviously my wife gets a little concern
when somebody that you don't know appro train and but
but you know to me that that's what it's about,
is giving someone a second chance and them turning their
life around.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Now, on the flip side of that, do you ever
encounter people that you don't know, You don't recognize them,
but you can tell that they're super nervous that it's
the sheriff that oh, no, the sheriff is here.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
I have and you know because sometimes I you know,
maybe run in and grab my prescriptions or something like
that and forget to throw my jacket on them, and
you see a nervous look on their face, and you know,
I don't know if their intention was to go steal
something or what. Yeah, they just make a U turn
going out of the exit, don't so yeah, but most
ti I'm in a hurry run and get my prescriptions

(15:43):
and get gone.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yes, yes, okay, so uh well anyway, Sheriff, thank you
so much, uh for coming in and talking to us
again this month on the Uncle Henry Show. Now earlier
in the hour you mentioned uh firearms safety classes. Can
we get more information on those classes at the website.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
Mobileso dot com. There's more information and you know it's
it's highly recommended and it's free of charge.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
So very good.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
All right, we are out of time. Thank you so
much for coming in and talking to us again. Sheriff
Paul Birch, thank you enjoyed it, and thank you for
listening to the Uncle Henry Show. We have more show
coming up after the news. The news is next here
on news Radio seven ten WNTM.