Dr. David Thrasher of Montgomery recently For her work leading Alabama's capital city through the COVID-19 pandemicNow Thrasher has his sights set on another challenge the city must address.

Speaking to WAKA News this week, Thrasher highlighted his concerns about Montgomery's skyrocketing crime rate.

“COVID-19 has been the hardest two years of my life, and now we have another pandemic and I can't stay silent,” said Thrasher, who has lived in the city for 74 years.

He said it was a burglary at his Montgomery home that first prompted him to take action.

“We started looking into it and we found that crime is rampant,” Thrasher explained. “85 percent of our size cities, between 100,000 and 200,000 people, are safer than us. We rank high in murders per capita, high in property crimes. Our murder rate is worse than Chicago.”

One recent shooting he mentioned was particularly tragic.

“Every day someone is brought into the emergency room from a shooting. Last weekend there were 15 shootings, four of which were fatal. Eighteen students have been shot in Montgomery schools this year, 12 of whom died. This isn't about people in their 20s and 30s being killed. This is about our kids being killed.”

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The former Montgomery County coroner also pointed to the startling ratio of police resignations to hirings in recent months.

“Right now the city has $60 million in reserves. We have $5 million left over from the MPD budget from the last two years unused. The main reason is we're short on staffing. Let's use that money to pay overtime for our sheriff's deputies, ALEA and even the Presidential Guard. We need to have staffing in the field,” Thrasher said. “Time is not on our side either. We're losing personnel. We're down 7,000 people while Birmingham and Huntsville are up. We're going to lose our tax base.”

“We've lost 33 MPD officers in the last three months. We've hired three.”

For Thrasher, the goal of his efforts is simple.

“I want to make a difference in Montgomery. My goal is to be the spark that gets people talking about crime issues.”

Dr. Thrasher said he believes one of the quickest ways to improve crime rates is to promote a police chief who truly understands the city and its needs. Another top priority, Dr. Thrasher said, is hiring more officers.

Thrasher is also a founder and trustee of the Boys & Girls Clubs Foundation. He was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame in 2024. He has previously been honored by Governor Kay Ivey and the State Legislature.

Austin Shipley is a staff writer for Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on X. @ShipleyAusten