How about some good ole fashion "thugshots" to add to your Christmas tree this December? One Alabama sheriff must have thought, why go for the "normal" look in a year that's been so "un-normal", lets switch it up and add images of "thugs" who have been either arrested or are currently wanted for crimes in our area, to our office Christmas tree this year. The Mobile County Sheriff's office did just that and posted their creative twist to their social media page saying: "We have decorated our Tree with THUGSHOTS to show how many Thugs we have taken off the streets of Mobile this year! We could not have done it without our faithful followers!" The reaction? Lets just say there were more comments expressing bah humbug than Christmas cheer!
There were over 7,900 people who commented on the Mobile County Sheriff's social media post and most of those comments were NOT in support of the tree. Local Alabama resident and president of the Alabama NAACP, Bernard Simelton, said it's “despicable behavior by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Department.” Another local resident and community member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, JaTune Bosby, highlighted that many of the locals arrested for crimes are individuals who struggle with mental illness and substance abuse. She went on to say: “They need the community’s assistance and care, not open scorn from leaders.”
This Christmas tree adorned with "thugshots" was part of a social media series called "Thug Thursdays" where the sheriff's department highlights which individuals are wanted for various crimes. They apparently have these "Thug Thursdays" to bring light to those at large and ask the community for their awareness and help. This Christmas tree highlighting the various "thugs" who were caught, was the sheriff office's way of highlighting the effort they made this past year with cleaning up the streets while also thanking the community for their help with capturing some of these "thugs". A spokesperson for the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, Lori Myles, said the post was "intended to show how cooperation between police and the community on social media can help solve crimes". She went on to say: "the mugshot ornaments represent repeat offenders....It´s not their first rodeo. They´ve been continuous with multiple arrests."
What do you make of this Christmas tree? I'll be honest, I'm not offended by it one bit and I get what the Sheriff's office was trying to do with tying the holiday into wrapping up the year and thanking the community for their help and cooperation in solving crimes BUT they should have known that that is not PC; it's not "politically correct". In 2020, society will not allow you to be tongue and cheek about felons. We're in a day and age where people are actively advocating for felon voting rights and you think the "thugshots" on a Christmas tree are a good idea? I could have predicted this would backfire and they should have predicted it too. Do I think this is being blown out of proportion? Yes, but 2020. It's as simple as that. Sure, I think it's a good thing police have cleaned up the streets and are showing off their work to the community. I really don't have a problem with that BUT it's the tongue and cheek way they went about it that will offend others; especially doing this during a year where police have already been getting a bad wrap...I think this could be featured in something like Super Troopers and we could laugh about it on screen but this is real life...not Super Troopers. What do you think?
-Producer Lightning