| The second-in-command of the state's largest police department is hanging up his badge after several decades of law enforcement.
Birmingham police Assistant Chief Allen Treadaway will retire Friday, 31 years and one week after he joined the force in 1989. He was promoted by Mayor Randall Woodfin in 2018 to the newly created position after working his way up through the ranks while also serving in the Alabama House of Representatives for the past 14 years.
I think it's time,'' Treadaway 59, said Tuesday.
Unlike so many stories told at retirement of an officer dreaming of putting on the uniform since childhood, Treadaway found his way into public service almost by accident. He worked in a manufacturing plant from the age of 18 until he was 28 but after being laid off work several times, he was in search of a more stable way to provide for his family which at that time was a wife and two children.
He went to the Jefferson County Personnel Board with plans to apply for the job of firefighter. "When a lady working there said, 'You know, they never lay off police officers,' that did it for me,'' he said. "If you've ever been laid off and you've got two small children at home and you're wondering how you're going to feed them, that was what I needed to hear and the rest, I guess they say, is history."
"I got hired and the job was just a natural fit,'' he said. "It fit like a glove."
Treadaway's first assignment was as a patrol officer was in the city's West Precinct and just several years into the job, he was recognized as West Precinct Officer of the Year in 1992.
He and his wife, Susan, would go on to have a total of five children - Kelsey, Erin, Tyler, Ally and Cody. Treadaway's wife died last year after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. Their daughter, Kelsey was killed in traffic crash in February 2018 when she was 31.
Treadaway said it was Kelsey who was, in part, responsible for his ascension through the police department's ranks. She was a young teen in 1998 when Treadaway was promoted to sergeant. He was assigned to the morning shift - 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. - at the South Precinct.
Just a few weeks into the new position, Treadaway doubted whether it was what he wanted. "If there was ever a time in my law enforcement career that I was depressed or down, it was then,'' he said. "I felt I would never see my kids working that shift. I don't think a lot of people realize that we're not off on Saturdays and Sundays. We work these overnight shifts and extra jobs and are gone a lot."
For someone extremely involved in his children's schoolwork and sports, it was a lot for Treadaway to digest. He called his supervisor on a Friday and told him he wanted to give up the rank of sergeant and go back to being an officer since, with his seniority, he would at least be working the day shift.
He talked about it with his wife the next day, and Kelsey overheard the conversation. She said, "Daddy, don't do that. You've worked too hard for this. We'll make it."
"I went to bed thinking about that and there was no way in the world I could step down,'' Treadaway said. "It was that conversation with my teenage daughter that gave me the encouragement. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been an assistant chief would be proudly retiring as an officer."
While ascending through the ranks, Treadaway also served for roughly 20 years on the Birmingam Police and Fire Pension Board and also for two decades served as an officer with Birmingham's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #1, and became known statewide as a voice for street cops. He said his FOP work is the most rewarding of his law enforcement career. In 2005, he was named the Most Outstanding Member of the Year by the Alabama State Fraternal Order of Police.
"The FOP allowed me to understand what police officers go through and their needs and put me in a position to actually help,'' he said. "When I look at my career, I look at my four terms in the legislature, there's nothing that's been more rewarding than the time I spent as president of the FOP and representing police officers and what they go through on a regular basis, making sure they were treated fairly."
"I'm a strong believe that if you equip your department, you pay them a competitive wage and benefit, you afford them due process when the need arises, you're going to have a much more responsive department,'' he said. "While I'm very appreciative to reach the rank of assistant chief, nothing will replace the pride I had in representing these officers because they do go through a lot and don't ask for much."
Treadaway said he actually had started the retirement process in 2018 and made that known. The mayor then offered him the assistant chief position. At that time, Treadaway was commander at the city's East Precinct.
"I've been struggling with this decision for several years, so I'm looking forward to the next chapter,'' he said. "It's just a very worthwhile career. You grow up here. You come in your 20s and you leave at almost 60 so you've built a lot of relationships."
"The hardest part is going to be missing the people, no question about it,'' Treadaway said. "But at this point my family needs me and I need to be there for them. I feel like I have always tried to the right thing."
Treadaway, who now has four granddaughters and one grandson, still has more than two years left on his current House District 51 term. He was first elected in 2006. "I look forward to being in a position to be able to do it full time even though it's considered to be a part-time job in the state of Alabama,'' he said.
He serves as the chairman of the State House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. |