Six seconds is how long it took for Decatur police to shoot and kill Steve Perkins. Fifty-two days later, Mayor Tab Bowling announced he is holding his disciplinary hearings with the four officers involved on Dec. 4.
Bowling has three disciplinary actions he can choose to issue. He can suspend, demote, or fire the officers involved. Some in the community say he should fire all four officers. The main reason, they say, is the officers are still getting paid to sit at home or at a desk while the Perkins family figures out how to live life without Steve.
Terrance Baker says it is troubling his tax dollars have been paying the officers involved for the past seven weeks.
Baker said, “That’s my money I'm paying them with. And so it upsets me. You know it's not right and they have the same eyes, everyone has the same eyes that we have. We’ve all seen the same thing...and so if your heart isn’t compassionate enough to see and be able to determine what's going on from there then you're just numb to life.â€
If Bowling decides to fire any of the officers, what about their benefits; will they still receive a pension? Â鶹Çø looked into how it works and found out the Decatur Police Department follows the State of Alabama Retirement System.
The retirement system calls for police officers to receive benefits if they reach the age of 60 and have ten years of service or 25 years of service at any age. However, an Alabama law that went into effect in 2014 says any state employee convicted of a felony loses their pension and benefits.
Upset Decatur resident Michael Gaylor said, “You know how hard it is to get unemployment, let alone they just murdered somebody and you keep getting your full paycheck. You know the system is very, very messed up, so everybody knows what you need to do to correct it.â€
If the mayor decides to fire any of the officers, there is a possibility they will get a pension depending on how many years of service they have.
As for the investigation underway by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, we checked again Monday and were told there are no new updates.
Once ALEA is finished, its findings will go to the Morgan County District Attorney, who along with a grand jury, will determine if the officers will face criminal charges.Â
