Alabama State Senator and U.S. Congressional candidate Merika Coleman will be in Mobile Thursday to roll out new legislation addressing policing transparency during an event that its organizer says is not a “campaign” event.

But the news conference, scheduled for 10 a.m. at Mobile’s Government Plaza, is “definitely a campaign move on her part,” according to state Senator Vivian Figures, the Democrat who represents Mobile in the Alabama State Senate and whose son, Shomari Figures, is also a Democratic candidate for Congress.

“She doesn’t even live in this district and is coming down here wanting to run for Congress,” said Figures, about Coleman, who is a Birmingham Democrat. “She wants to take this issue to get publicity on it to use it for her for congressional campaign, bottom line.”

Figures is not the only lawmaker upset. State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, who is also running for the congressional seat and who sponsored the most recent body cam legislation in the Alabama House that was adopted into law in September, said she was “very embarrassed” and “disappointed” with Coleman. She accused her Senate colleague in of “capitalizing on the backs of the dead,” in reference to the family of Jawan Dallas, who are expected to be at the news conference.

Figures and Givan also criticized Coleman for going beyond typical legislative protocol that requests a legislative colleague reach out to the supporter of an issue and let them know about their interests in sponsoring new legislation.

Figures said it’s common courtesy for a lawmaker to reach out to their colleagues who are already sponsoring legislation first.

Givan said “at no time did that happen.”

“You don’t’ take that issue on yourself without at least giving the courtesy of that legislator on whether they mind,” said Figures. “(Coleman) is in the middle of a congressional race. I just think that it is just not a good thing to do.”

Deanna “Dee” Reed, a community organizer helping to organize the news conference, said that Coleman, as chair of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, is hosting the news conference in her role as state lawmaker.

Coleman was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.

Inspired at rally

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Reed said that Coleman’s interest in the legislation came after she attended an emergency community meeting and rally on Nov. 30, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Mobile.

During the rally, the Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign, urged Coleman to craft legislation requiring access to body cam footage, and to host a “major press conference in Mobile outlying the amendments you make.”

The community event was organized as a rally in support of the Dallas family and was attended by their attorneys who have since filed a federal civil lawsuit seeking $36 million from the City of Mobile over the handling of the Dallas case. Jawan Dallas, 36, died shortly after an altercation with two Mobile police officers on July 2, in Theodore.

Christine Dallas, Jawan’s mother, and family attorney Roderick Van Daniel are expected to be at the news conference.

Christine Dallas and Phil Williams, Jawan’s father, spent several months pleading publicly with Mobile city officials to view the body camera footage of their son’s death. They were repeatedly denied by authorities, who cited the case’s ongoing investigation and Alabama’s grand jury secrecy act.

Only after the investigation was completed in mid-November was Christine Dallas and her attorneys able to view the footage. Her attorneys have since described Jawan Dallas’ death as brutal, comparing it the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer ignited protests nationwide over police brutality and racial injustice.

Dallas died after he was approached by police who, at the time, were investigating a trespassing or burglary complaint. Dallas was struck around 13 times by a Taser, according to the family’s attorney.

Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood has said that Dallas died from “underlying medical conditions,” and not Tasing or police brutality. A toxicology report, Blackwood said, showed drugs in Dallas’ system at the time; mojo, a synthetic cannabinoid, and some sort of amphetamine. The Dallas family attorneys have since argued that Jawan Dallas did not show signs of impairment during the encounter with police.

The footage has not been released to the public or the media, and Alabama law does not permit for the public release of police-worn body cam footage.

According to the news release, Coleman’s legislation aims to enhance transparency by “designating recordings from body-worn and dashboard camera as public records.”

The legislation will also “provide for an appeals process if a law enforcement agency fails to provide a requested recording.”

New law

The rollout comes about 3-1/2 months after Givan’s legislation became law. The new law allows people whose image or voice is subject to body camera footage to file a written request to review it. An attorney, parent, spouse or another designated representative can also make the request. The agency receiving the request then has to either show the video or notify the requestor it was denying its release.

But there is no guarantee an agency that receives the request is required to show the footage. The new law also doesn’t require law enforcement to give a reason for denying a request.

The Alabama State Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that police bodycam and dashcam videos were considered investigative materials, like detective field notes and witness statements. The videos are considered exempt from disclosure requirement of the state public records law, under a determination of the Supreme Court in an 8-1 ruling.

Given said she is working Republican colleagues like State Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Birmingham, to make amendments to the new law. But she said any legislation requiring public disclosure of police body cam footage will not go anywhere in the supermajority Republican Legislature.

Givan said Coleman is giving the Dallas family a sense of “false hope.”

Treadaway, who has over three decades of police experience, said he believes the legislation is an attempt to capitalize politically on a tragedy without listening to the trained professionals.

“I don’t know anyone in the DA’s office or law enforcement who doesn’t want transparency in this area, but they will stop short of jeopardizing an investigation when doing that,” Treadaway said. “There is a proper time to do that.”

He declined to comment about Coleman’s bill, noting he had not seen its language. The bill has not yet been released.

Coleman, who has served in the Alabama Legislature for more than two decades – in the House before she was elected to the Senate in 2022 – is among 11 Democrats qualified and running for the 2nd congressional district seat in South Alabama. The primary is March 5, 2024.

Coleman, who does not live in the district, has said she plans to live in a loft in Montgomery.

The U.S. Constitution does not have a residency requirement requiring someone to live within the congressional district they are pursuing. But the Constitution does require a candidate to live within the state.

The district’s newly-drawn boundaries include much of Mobile and Montgomery, and also includes a swath of rural counties through the southern Black Belt region of Alabama.

The 2nd District is the hottest race in Alabama next year due to a federal court approval of a new map last fall that changed the district from a safe Republican district to one where Democrats have a chance to win. There are eight Republicans who are also running in the race.