Photo: From left to right: Cullman City Police Chief Kenny Culpepper, Hanceville Police Chief Bob Long, Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry and Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce President Leah Bolin
If it comes to a point where you’re going to use deadly force, DO NOT shoot to wound. DO NOT shoot to wound.”Sheriff Matt Gentry
CULLMAN – On Friday, May 20, the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce held its monthly community luncheon at the All Steak Restaurant. The presentation was called ‘LOCK, LOAD & LIABILITY’ and featured Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry, Cullman City Police Chief Kenny Culpepper and Hanceville Police Chief Bob Long, who answered commonly asked questions from local organizations and businesses.
“Cullman is growing and with growth, oftentimes that creates change and produce challenges in the community,” said Chamber President Leah Bolin. “With that in mind, some of the questions that were submitted have a lot to do with how Cullman’s changing. The questions are positive ones; people are inquisitive as to what they can do.”
Following are some of the questions that were asked and some of the answers the law officials gave.
Q: From your perspective, what are the top three challenges that businesses are facing today in our community?
“There are 800,000 law enforcement officers across the nation and 99.9% of them are good, honest people,” said Long. “We make mistakes, yes we do, but when a law enforcement officer makes a mistake it makes the front page news all across the nation. But if someone who works in the sanitation or street department, for example, makes a mistake, nobody cares to broadcast that nationwide. There are a lot of armchair quarterbacks that like to sit back and second guess us on a split-second decision we had to make. A lot of times, before they even have all the facts they’ve got us tried and convicted.”
Q: What are our rights as businesses to have specific parking spaces designated for our business?
“The city can’t show favoritism to a particular business by granting them the right to have private parking places in front of their business on public property,” said Culpepper. “Right now the downtown parking, if it’s on a public street or in a public lot, it’s open to first come, first serve.”
Q: What are the rules about protecting myself and my property? When can I shoot somebody?
“A lot of people don’t know that we have Stand Your Ground laws in Alabama,” said Gentry. “There is an old perception that you have to wait until they get inside your house or business. We have the Stand Your Ground Law here so you can protect yourself no matter if you are standing here or out in the street.
“The general rule of thumb is if you are going to use deadly force, no matter if it is law enforcement or citizen, you have to be in fear of your life or fear that the life of another will be taken or serious bodily injury will occur.
“Let me add this,” Gentry continued. “If it comes to a point where you’re going to use deadly force, DO NOT shoot to wound. When it comes to the point where deadly force is necessary, you shoot to KILL that person. We do not shoot to wound, we shoot to kill because if you shoot to wound, say on the side of the leg, they can still overpower you, take your weapon and kill you. When it comes down to that point, you have to go all the way, you can’t go half-way.”
Those were just a sample of the interesting questions that were asked during Friday’s luncheon; there were other questions left to be asked. From this reporter’s perspective, hopefully, the chamber or another organization will host another time for Culpepper, Long and Gentry to answer additional law enforcement questions from the community. The time with them wasn’t even close to being enough. Special thanks to all those who serve Cullman City and Cullman County in law enforcement.
To find out more about Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce events, visit http://www.cullmanchamber.org/.
