Alabama is having a PR nightmare, and in at least one of its cities, they’re unfolding simultaneously.  Last week, the leader of Decatur’s organized crime unit disappeared.  What appeared to be a struggle and with his family’s fears of a kidnapping, police scrambled in their attempts to find him and feared the worse along with his family.  It didn’t take long, however, before his problems surfaced that included marital difficulties, gambling debts and the pressures of a high-stress job.  This week, police found him in Las Vegas with stolen money recovered in several drug busts.  If that wasn’t bad enough, a volunteer with the police department found herself in the middle of it too.  She helped him stage the scene by scattering papers in his office and turning over furniture.  Police suspect the two are having an affair and she was preparing herself to meet him in Vegas.  The FBI is still trying to determine how much he stole before getting arrested this week.  His gambling debts are due to his travel across the Mississippi/Alabama state line and into the riverboat gambling city of Tunica. The twenty year police veteran now faces major jail time and is being held by U.S. Marshalls in Las Vegas with no bond. 

It gets worse with another police scandal, this time it involves a county official.  The sheriff of the county, Greg Bartlett, was arrested Wednesday for providing inadequate food for prisoners while pocketing the money he saved by providing substandard food.  The money involved?  Over $200,000 over the past three years.  Here’s the kicker: pocketing the surplus money not spent on inmate food isn’t illegal. There’s actually a law that allows sheriff’s to pocket leftover funds.  He was arrested for being in contempt of court for refusing to provide adequate meals, not for keeping the money.  According to the Associated Press, 55 counties in Alabama (there are a total of 67) provide $1.75 per meal, per prisoner a day.  Any monies left over, more specifically, more taxpayer monies, are fair game for these sheriffs.  Ten prisoners testified to the conditions and meals that included half an egg, a teaspoon of oatmeal and one piece of toast for breakfast.  One inmate said he’s lost thirty five pounds over the past few months. 

Sheriff Bartlett admitted to a $95,000 surplus last year, $62,000 in 2007 and $55,000 in 2006.  The federal judge has ordered him to remain in jail until he agrees to and submits improved menus.  Three nutritionists testified on behalf of the county and said the prisoners weren’t malnourished and that these complaints were common in jails across the country.  Still, there had to have been some evidence that convinced the judge to order the sheriff to jail. 

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the citizens in Decatur to maintain their faith in law and order.  With the two top law enforcement agents in hot water, one who is an inmate himself and another who’s looking at major jail time, it’s going to be hard to differentiate between the law breakers and the law enforcers.