Sheriff Paul Burch with Advice for Uncle Henry

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
It says the Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio
seven ten WNTM. Thank you so much for listening to
the Uncle Henry Show. I appreciate that bear bear much
and I'm proud to welcome back to the Uncle Henry
Show mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch. Sheriff Burt, thank you
for coming back on the show.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thank you, glad to be back.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Glad to have you here. The last time the sheriff
was here last month, he told me off the air.
You told me off the air that you like it.
You like not knowing what the questions are going to be.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
I do. I think it makes it more genuine.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, you know, I've interviewed politicians since the nineteen eighties
and not the and I know you probably you weren't
upon politician up until a couple of years ago seeking votes.
But it's so rare for a public official to have
that attitude. Most public officials want to know in advance
what are we talking about?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, I will correct you on one thing. In this
way I say all the time, I don't consider myself
a politician. I'm an elected official, right, but not a politician.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Because you're not out politicking you're not trying. There's not
a lot of compromise, I guess in terms of enforcing
the law, the laws of law.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
There's not. And I don't talk out of both sides
of my mouth.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Okay, all right, well, thank you for the correction. Now
before we get into I've got a lot of things
I want to ask you about a lot of things.
I want to learn about what you do and just
about the reality of law enforcement and Mobile County. But
I got something personal to talk to you about. Okay, Sheriff,
and listener, I hope you don't mind little personal business
with the sheriff. Sheriff, I got married back in April,

(01:54):
a wonderful woman, and she has told me in the
last few weeks that for the first time in her life,
she now wants to own a firearm, okay, and have
a firearm for protection. And she would be the ultimate beginner.
She's an adult, been around a while, has never handled
a firearm in her life, but she she wants to

(02:17):
learn and be a responsible gun owner and have a
firearm for personal protection. So what what advice can you
give us? What what kind of First of all, what
kind of firearms should she should she get? As a beginner.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
That's a great question.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
And the timing is perfect, okay. The Sheriff's office, and
this is something that that we started when I took office.
We have a firearms familiarization course for just this particular situation.
There's one coming up in December, and I'll get the
date for you when we'll get off air, okay. And
the what we do is for beginners or somebody who

(02:55):
just maybe hadn't handled a firearm in a while. Uh,
you can do a day of class room, you know,
on gun safety and education, and then another day on
the range. So what we do for those who are
not sure what they want, We bring a variety of
handguns out there, you know, let them handle them, see

(03:16):
what feels good in their hands, and then start working
with them, you know, on the shooting day of seeing
what they're comfortable shooting. And that that helps a lot
of people make that decision of what they are comfortable with.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
So your advice is to try a few things before
you make the commitment of buying something.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Absolutely Now, how I know the.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyway, how
important is it for someone to make sure that they
go through these classes.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well for a for a beginner, someone who's you know,
there are a lot of people have gone through them
that we're afraid of handguns previously, and we want those
who you know, want to carry fire arm, whether it's
either in their vehicle, purse, on their in their house,
they should be comfortable with that gun because the last

(04:04):
thing you want is to need it and not be
familiar on how to use it and end up hurting yourself.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Well, and I'm also sure, I'm sure that you need
to practice with it if you're going to carry it.
You can't just learn how to use it one day
and then carry it for three years and never fire it.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
That that's strongly recommended. And again this is just a
familiarization course. Anyone who does carry, we highly recommend their
number of ranges around town, you know, or they're wooded
area's way out in the county where it's safe to shoot,
and you should shoot several times a year just to
make sure number one, you feel proficient with it. Number

(04:41):
two to make sure the gun is still functioning properly,
and you know, always keep them clean. You know what
we've seen in the past, I've had some older friends
who you know, when a gun started jamming up. Well, well, learners,
they carried it in their pocket a lot of times,
and it gets lint and dust, And I mean, if
you're gonna carry a semi automatic, you've got to keep

(05:03):
it clean because that that action of the slide going
back and forth is what makes the gun function.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Hey, what is the what is how should someone if
they're gonna if they're gonna conceal carry and they're driving
around Mobile County, how should they How should they store
that gun while they're driving.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well, if they're gonna conceal carry either on their side purse.
You know a lot of people think, you know, okay,
it's in a glove box. Well, if you're carrying it
for personal protection, and your glovebox and will do you
much good if you need it quickly. So there are
a number of holsters.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Uh. For instance, my wife wears an ankle holster most
of the time and one inn purse.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
So okay, but but it's all there's so many variety
of holsters, and they even make purses with holsters built in.
That's so individualized on how you feel comfort caring.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
So if someone is concealed carrying and they're driving around
and maybe they've driven too fast, they get pulled over
by a deputy. Uh, what should we immediately tell the
deputy that we're carrying? What are what are the rules
or preferences in terms of that.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
The preference is to make law enforcement aware that you
do have a firearm. Okay, it's on your person and
your console and you know, and just the mere acknowledgment
that you have that because it's currently not required by law,
but it kind of takes temperature down a little bit,
and right, you know, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
This is an honest citizen. Let me know, you know.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
And what I recommend is, you know, if if you
are carrying you get pulled over, along with your driver's license,
hand them a permit if you have one, and again
those are no longer required, but preferred, and say, okay,
you know, I'm armed, so I'm giving you my permit
and my driver's license.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
So the permit's not required. And we follow that controversy.
But uh, some people still getting the permits.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
They are, Yeah, they are a lot because a lot
of people travel out of state. And you know, something
that was just changed this year. The permits are valid
in lieu of a NIXT check when.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
You go purchase a firearm. Oh, okay, around check.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
So where that becomes important is you know, for the individual,
if you have a common name John Smith, James Jones,
something like that, you find a firearm you like, you
may have to wait five six days to get it
because that's such a common name. It takes the system
a long time to check it. Will a permit you
walk out with your purchase?

Speaker 1 (07:38):
All right, we got about a minute left in this segment.
You said that my wife should try several to see
what she likes, what she's comfortable with. Do you have
any particular uh any any particular favorites in your family
that you would tell us that we should look at.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Well again, that goes back to how well how she
to pit uh wants to use? Is something she just
wants in the home? Is this something she just you know,
gonna carry?

Speaker 2 (08:08):
You know?

Speaker 3 (08:08):
To me, the best home protection is a thirty eight special.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
They're fail proof. And this a revolver.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
That that's you know, that's what I you what I
keep handy at the house along with some other things.
But you wake you get woke up in the middle
of night. You need to arm yourself. You're half asleep
and again that will never fail you. And where uh
semi automatic, if you're not gripping it properly, holding properly,

(08:39):
it could jam up. Even the best guns and the
best ammunitions will jam sometimes.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
We're gonna take a time out. We're gonna come back
with more. We've got Sheriff Paul Birch on the Uncle
Henry Show. Back with more from the sheriff. After the break,

(09:05):
it says the Uncle Henry Show here on news radio
seven to ten WNTM. We have new headlines coming up
in ten minutes. My guest this hour is Mobile County
Sheriff Paul Birch. And I've been told I can ask
whatever I want. Thank you cherf for let me ask
a personal question about my wife and what kind of
firearms she might want to try out for her first

(09:25):
ever firearm arm of her life. Now also thinking of her,
one of her favorite things to do in life is
to go shopping. And we're in that time where over
half of Americans are already doing shopping for Christmas and holidays.
Every year, law enforcement likes to tell us dos and
don'ts what should we be thinking about this time of year?

Speaker 3 (09:45):
It really hasn't changed, you know over the years. Always
be aware of your surroundings. You know, if you're going
to buy, make purchases, you know, lock those and continue shopping.
Lock those in your trunk. But the most important is
is to be aware of your surroundings. And you know,
one of the you know, I hate you know say

(10:06):
it this way, but it's true. One of the dumbest
things I see when people are shopping is crossing a
parking lot or with their phone in their face, just
oblivious to their surroundings. And you know, that could be
someone with bad intentions watching, or that could be a
car come approaching and you're not paying attention, end up
getting hit if that driver's not paying attention. So but

(10:30):
you know what I would suggest, especially for women, there's
really no need to carry a big purse if you're
shopping in the mall or shopping you know, at a
retail store, put your driver's license in a credit card
in your pocket and it makes you less.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Of a target.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
This is uh And I guess well you can tell me.
I know that when in the last few years, I've
noticed that whenever school was out for holidays, there were
more car break ins in my neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
That's always when they're out for holidays, out for summer,
and you know, sometimes they are juveniles. But a lot
of car burglars that we see, you know, in the
last few years, they're looking for guns. So you know,
I can't stress enough, do not leave you guns in
your cars.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Now we're aware of stuff going on in the city
limits of Mobile with people having their cars broken into,
they leave their cars unlocked, they leave guns, they leave
amazing things in their unlocked vehicles. Does this happen in
the county as well, people leaving their vehicles unlocked and
they get robbed?

Speaker 3 (11:32):
It does occasionally, you know. The difference is obviously population.
You know, the city you have clusters of neighborhoods, and
there are a few of those in the county. But
for the most part, homes are on acreage and so
burglars are less likely to take that chance of going
down a fifty yard driveway right, you know, through a

(11:52):
gate and then start looking for cars. And that's really
what the difference is. The opportunity is a lot greater
in a neighborhood where you got you know, you can
check forty fifty cars pretty quickly to see if they
are unlocked.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
What kind of what kind of theft and burglary do
you have out in the county? Are those are whatever?
That is? Is it more planned because they, as you
pointed out, population not as dense. We've got to make
sure there's nobody there.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
That kind of thing it is, you know, but we
see the you know, common things, you know, theft of lawnmowers,
things that are left unlocked. The you know, one of
the big differences in a lot of people who live.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
In the county.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
The offenders know that, you know, these are country folks
and they're probably armed, right, And did they just think
twice about going onto a large piece of property where
you've got to go down a long driveway and you
don't know whether they're home or not until you travel
down that driveway. But you know, the crime rate in
the county is pretty low as far as as thefts

(13:03):
and burglaries, and we do get clusters of them and
it typically ends up the last couple incidents we had,
we didn't have anything in this area for a long time.
So one of the first things and then all of
a sudden, they start first thing we start looking for
is that, okay, who recently got out of jail Okay
for theft or burglary, and more than likely it's that

(13:26):
person doing it again. And you know that's just you know,
intelligence led you know law enforcement.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Well, and I know you've heard this this too, but
you hear anecdotally that in just about every community in
the country there's a small number of people doing most
of the crime. And if you were to just figure
out who those people are and keep an eye on them,
then that a lot of our crime issues would be solved.
Is that Is that too simple, simplistic?

Speaker 2 (13:54):
No, that's that's very factual.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
And you know, again, we base a lot of the
way that we police nowadays on intelligence, and that feeds
into that. You know, we monitor our career burglars, career
violent offenders, and we will notice an uptick when they're
out of jail and you know, nothing happened while they
were in jail. So it's very true that a very

(14:18):
small percentage of society commit the majority of the crimes,
and so we try to target those individuals and monitor
when they're in incarcerated or not.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Sheriff Bert you said moments ago that that crime is
relatively low in terms of burglary theft out in the county.
What is your typical call to the Sheriff's department out
there about We.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Do get some domestics, okay, okay, and again there are
you know, minor thefts, you know, but a lot of times,
you know, we get a call about maybe a lawnmower
or something, but they don't know exactly when it went missing. Yeah,
you know those kind of things. You know, we get
calls about animals roaming the road, cattle and horses, right so,

(15:02):
and that there are you know, violent crimes that we
respond to occasionally, thankfully not too often.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
You know.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
What we also do is you know, respond to violent crimes, homicides,
things such as that in some of the smaller municipalities,
and that that keeps us busy.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Does Pritchard get most of that attention?

Speaker 2 (15:23):
They do?

Speaker 3 (15:24):
You know, we've seen some recent uptick in violence in
Mount Vernon, so we're doing some concentration up.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
There as well. You know, some of the other things
we do that are a little unique. You know.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
On the way here, got a call from one of
the circuit judges and he's like, hey, I've got a
trial starting next week. We've got a key witness that
has not been showing up trying to actively evade. So
y'all have heard me talk about our Special Operations Division,
So we I deployed them to start looking for this
individual and this and all hands on deck within that

(15:55):
unit there are one hundred percent proactive and you know
that helps keep the court system rolling. So because I'm
told that the trial cannot go forward without this individual there,
and you know they've already said a couple of times,
and so see, now that's something unique that the Sheriff's
office does.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
That is something that I would not have guessed that
would you would be up to when I would ask
what what what do you get called for? That is
not what I would have imagined your answer to be.
We got about a minute left in this segment. What
is the what's the hardest part of being the sheriff
having to sit at my desk and do paperwork? Oh,

(16:34):
the sheriff that you don't get to delegate the paperwork
to somebody.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
That there are a lot of things that require an
original signature, you know, and I do. Anyone who calls in,
whether it's a complaint, a concern, questions, I answered the phone,
and I call everyone back. So now there are times
I transfer the phone to my cell phone. Yeah, I
love being on the street. So the hardest adjustment for
me is being tied to that desk for along with

(17:00):
i't want.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
To be What about the part that you're doing right now,
getting out in front of the public, going on TV radio,
that type of thing. Is that something that you're I
know you probably feel it's necessary, but is it something
that you wish you didn't have to do.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
No, I actually enjoy getting messages out, you know, through media,
and especially when I can highlight the work of our team.
You know, I think we've got the best law enforcement
agency in the Southeast, and you know, it's it's just
it's a family and it's a team. Anytime I can
highlight their achievements, I love doing that.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
You're listening to Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch. We're going
to take a time out for news and trafficking them
back with more from the sheriff as The Uncle Henry
Show continues here on News Radio seventy ten WNTM.