Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith and Chief Deputy Ralph Williams have been arrested and indicted on charges related to knowingly employing uncertified individuals as law enforcement officers.
Smith was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of violating the article of standards for employing law enforcement officers due to knowingly employing four school resource officers, a jailer and a deputy, who lacked the required Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission, APOSTC, certification. According to the warrant for Williams’ arrest, he is being charged with providing false and misleading information to APOSTC.
The uncertified deputy whom Smith is charged with illegally employing is Andrew Neves-McDonald. Smith hired Neves-McDonald in 2024, and requested a Waiver of Lateral Entry Training Equivalency Training through APOSTC because of Neves-McDonald’s previous law enforcement employment and certification in Arizona. However, Neves-McDonald’s law enforcement certification in Arizona had actually been suspended due to misconduct related to an excessive use-of-force incident, placing him on the National Decertification Index for law enforcement.
In February, APOSTC declared that Neves-McDonald was “ineligible in Alabama for law enforcement appointment, training and/or certification as a law enforcement officer.” Despite that order, Neves-McDonald continued to wear a deputy sheriff’s uniform, carry a badge and gun, and perform the duties of a law enforcement officer according to APOSTC.
At a Walker County Civil Service Board hearing in March, Neves-McDonald confirmed that he had been “running the canine, making sure the schools are safe” after being asked about Facebook photos in which he appeared with a WSCO canine unit at Curry High School. Neves-McDonald said that he did not view the conduct as deputy work.
In addition to employing Neves-McDonald, Sheriff Smith is also charged with hiring Danny Alexander, Jeffrey Sparks, Sam Bennett and Gregory Harrison as school resource officers, allowing the men to carry guns and badges in Walker County schools despite their lack of APOSTC certification.
According to the indictment, Justin Kelley was also hired as a Walker County jailer without the required APOSTC certification.
In March, Gov. Kay Ivey signed Senate Bill 115 into law, expanding the language for what would constitute “impersonating a peace officer” under Alabama law. Although the act does not go into effect until Oct. 1 of this year, it specifically outlines that an individual commits the crime of impersonating a peace officer if they knowingly serve as a peace officer while being ineligible for the position — including if their APOSTC certification was revoked or suspended. Additionally, any individual who knowingly “employs, appoints, or otherwise facilitates a person serving as a peace officer when he or she knows the person is prohibited from serving as a peace officer” has also committed the crime of impersonating a peace officer under the law.
In Alabama, impersonating a peace officer constitutes a Class C felony, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. Convicted felons are also completely barred from serving as law enforcement in the state.
The Walker County Sheriff’s Office has previously faced controversy related to the death of former inmate Anthony “Tony” Mitchell who died on Jan. 26, 2023 due to hypothermia and sepsis resulting from “infected injuries obtained during incarceration and medical neglect” after two weeks in the Walker County Jail. Mitchell reportedly spent those two weeks “naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces” on the floor of a jail cell.
Since Mitchell’s death, several Walker County Jail employees have pleaded guilty to depriving the inmate of his rights. Two Walker County deputies were also placed on paid administrative leave earlier this year after being accused of using excessive force against Mitchell during his initial arrest. Smith himself is named in a wrongful death lawsuit which Mitchell’s family filed last year.
