Over the last few years, a sleepy southern town has seen its arrest rate grow more than 1100%. It’s not because of a spike in crime in Brookside, Alabama; instead, the town’s law enforcement has adopted a policing-for-profit model that treats citizens as revenue generators and cracks down on them accordingly. In turn, some residents enter debt spirals as the town’s police force rakes in more cash, with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Guest: John Archibald, columnist for AL.com and the Birmingham News.

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Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Danielle Hewitt, Elena Schwartz, and Carmel Delshad.

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