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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
One of several flock safety cameras in Vestavia Hills is seen on Columbiana Road on March 13.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
The 2024 Vestavia Hills city budget has allocated funds for the department to purchase four new patrol vehicles to complete the one-to-one vehicle initiative.
Vestavia Hills in 2023 experienced declines in many crimes, including murder, drug offenses, weapons offenses and a record low number of burglaries, according to statistics provided by the city’s police department.
However, there were more vehicle break-ins and thefts of vehicles in 2023 than the year before, police said.
After experiencing one murder in 2022, the city saw none in 2023. Other violent crimes either stayed flat, such as the 114 assaults the city experienced in both 2022 and 2023 and only three robberies per year, or reduced sharply. The number of weapons offenses, for instance, fell from 122 in 2022 to 40 in 2023, a reduction of 67%.
Vestavia Hills police Chief Shane Ware, who was officially tapped for the top position following the death of longtime police Chief Danny Rary in August 2023, said the crime data exemplifies the department’s dedication.
“We are very proud of our crime data,” Ware said. “It’s the culmination of a lot of good work from the 110 men and women of the Vestavia Hills Police Department.”
City Manager Jeff Downes said low crime is a significant factor in the city’s economic growth and quality of life, and he said the police department has played a major role in the city’s fortunes.
“If you want to have a vibrant community with lots of great restaurants, interesting places and great events, public safety is a must,” Downes said. “Our Police Department is doing a great job not only keeping our citizens safe, but also helping us establish an exceptional quality of life. We’re very proud of our police force.”
Burglaries
The number of burglaries in Vestavia Hills, which had already hit a historic low in 2022, fell 50% in 2023.
“The 32 burglaries in 2022 was the lowest recorded number ever in the city’s history, since we have record-keeping,” Ware said. “So in 2023, when it reduced to 16, that is again an all-time low. … We’ve had a series of years where it’s just getting lower and lower, and we’re very proud of that number. But we also understand that that could uptick very easily.”
Ware said much of the success in preventing burglaries is due to the department’s patrol visibility and its investigations and follow-up into the burglaries that do take place within Vestavia Hills. Ware also pointed out the city’s Flock Safety camera systems.
Installed in 2019, Ware said the more than 200 cameras have assisted the department in solving many crimes, including burglaries, and are also a valuable deterrent to would-be criminals.
“They are a very good after-the-fact investigative tool,” he said. “We’ve had those in the city for several years now, and they’ve been very beneficial after an event in investigating it and getting successful prosecution.”
Kidnapping
There were a handful of crime categories that experienced an increase in 2023, including one instance of kidnapping that occurred in late July. Ware said the case involved a custody dispute that was resolved quickly and safely.
“I remember it vividly. It was on a Sunday afternoon at around 6 p.m., and it had domestic overtones,” Ware said. “It was an infant baby kidnapped by the non-custodial father. We were able to recover the child within an hour and a half, and he was in custody within an hour and a half. We had the child recovered before the state was able to issue the Amber Alert.”
Vehicle break-ins, thefts
Another crime statistic that saw an increase was theft from vehicles, which grew from 32 in 2022 to 60 in 2023. Ware said crimes like these typically occur in clusters and are largely due to the lack of basic prevention methods.
“Most of the car break-ins were people stealing items from the inside of a car left unlocked with valuables in plain sight, and that’s why we’re always reminding people to, number one, lock their cars and, number two, prior to locking them, remove all the valuables from the car,” Ware said.
Vehicle break-ins can happen anywhere — including residential neighborhoods, shopping centers and office building complexes — but Ware said gyms are common targets.
“Generally, we have increased patrols in the areas with gyms because people might have left a purse inside while they’ve gone inside to work out,” Ware said. “When someone goes into a gym, they’re typically in there for about an hour, so that’s a good time for a thief to break into a car.”
Car thefts also rose in 2023, climbing 122% from 23 to 51. However, nine of those were related to leasing agreements at the U-Haul facility on U.S. 31, Ware said.
“We have one of the largest U-Haul facilities in the Southeast, and those are more along the lines of a civil matter, but they’re still by national standards reported as a theft of a vehicle,” he said.
The remaining 41 car thefts were mostly crimes of opportunity and, again, can be prevented by basic vigilance, Ware said. Additionally, he said many of the thefts involve certain car brands, mostly Hyundais and Kias, that are targeted by thieves.
“Many of those represent vehicles that had the keys in the car and the car was unlocked, he said.
Drugs, vandalism, weapon offenses
Vestavia Hills also saw a slight increase in reported vandalism cases in 2023, with 55 cases compared to 42 in 2022.
“Still, when you consider that we’re a city of about 40,000 people, all of these numbers are relatively low,” Ware said.
Vestavia Hills experienced a 16% decrease in drug offenses, from 861 in 2022 to 721 in 2023, and a 67% decrease in weapons offenses in 2023, with only 40 cases compared to 122 in 2022.
“These two offenses, drug and weapon, are generally officer-initiated,” Ware said. “Those are due to very proactive police work.”
However, last year, the major drop in weapons cases was driven by the change in Alabama law that made it no longer a crime to carry a gun without a permit. That change took effect Jan. 1, 2023.
One of the factors contributing to crime in Vestavia Hills is the transient nature of those committing the crimes, Ware said. Additionally, the demolition of the old Days Inn on U.S. 31, near the border with Hoover, could be helping to reduce certain crime statistics in the city, he said.
“The vast majority of the people that we arrest don’t reside within the city. They’re traveling through and passing through,” Ware said.
Continuous improvement
The Vestavia Hills Police Department continues to improve and develop strategies to combat criminal behavior wherever it crops up within the city, Ware said.
“Our patrol division is very proactive, but not only that, they’re strategic,” Ware said. “They are aware of what’s going on in the community and adjust their patrol techniques to accommodate shifts in the crime that’s actually taking place here. So they’re very strategic in what they’re doing.
“The bottom line is we are here to enforce the law, whatever that law is, and we will adjust our tactics as needed. If we see any shifts in crime that is occurring in the city, we’ll maintain our proactive nature and our vigilance,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good people here that are doing very good police work, and we don’t anticipate that changing.”
