Crime is up but lack of money ties sheriff's hands - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Money is tight for Jefferson county sheriff Mike Hale. He is down 148 deputies - and is operating at just 92% of what he once had to patrol the county.

Hale admits crime is growing in certain areas of the county such as Center Point and Fultondale.

The sheriff says the money is just not there to hire a bigger staff. He says,"if there is less uniformed deputy sheriffs then we are going to have to be smarter in the way we have our eyes and ears out there. We are going to have to rely on our citizens to form groups that can feed us the information we need to be very, very, effective."

Sheriff Hale encourages citizens to have an active neighborhood watch and to utilize the sheriff's website and Facebook page to leave anonymous information.