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Tucked on the edge of a parking garage facing Water Street, Central Precinct is easy to miss in person and often overlooked on the jurisdiction map because of its small size in comparison to the other four precincts. I’ll admit that this was my final precinct to ride in, put off due to thinking it would be boring to be confined in a zone that was less than two miles wide in any given direction. It proved to be one of my liveliest rides.

When a civilian is riding with the Mobile Police Department, keeping the rider safe is tops on the official list, but an unwritten rule is hoping the rider sees a bit of excitement. I’m sure someone will try to misconstrue that statement, but it doesn’t mean the officer is out looking for something to escalate. It boils down to the officers wanting the person riding with them to experience a patrol with moments of adrenaline spikes and interesting calls. Does that mean riding code under blue lights and sirens or hectic hours of going from one call to the next without time for writing reports and grabbing a meal in between them? That exhilaration level will look different for every officer, but I’m sure they would all agree it means a busy shift where the hours pass quickly. And that it did on the Friday night I rode in July with Central Precinct.

Roll call in Central was different from the others I have witnessed because the squad consisted of one sergeant and one officer. The squad sergeant assigned me to ride with Officer Homsher, the only other officer on duty for the shift. Homsher and I had crossed paths last summer. He was on the squad I rode with in 1^st Precinct while I was in the Citizens Police Academy. After a drive around the southern edge of the precinct and a few blocks out of the area, Homsher fueled his Tahoe before the night got busy. What followed was about an hour of patrolling, including checking in with a homeless person sleeping behind a business.

Just after dark, the first of three automobile accident calls for the night came in. It took about half an hour for Homsher to interview the drivers involved and collect their written statements. Then he began his report while parked in a lot at Government and Washington.

A call from an officer in 1^st Precinct came over the radio saying he’d been exposed and had to take Narcan. Since we were close, Homsher ran code into the Oakleigh Garden District. Pulling up with blue lights illuminating a lone MPD officer sitting on the curb looking sickly and a weakened suspect perched on a retaining wall a dozen feet away was an eerie sight. As Officer Homsher talked to the sergeant, the street turned red as MFRD arrived. The EMT crew went right to work as several units from the sergeant’s precinct arrived on the scene as well. It was a hectic fifteen minutes, but once the ambulance left and the officers initiated their follow-through plan, we returned to Central.

But don’t think we left Central’s squad sergeant alone in the middle of the entertainment district on a Friday night. MPD officers from other precincts working overtime report to help keep an eye on things around Dauphin Street. Plus there is the Mounted Unit, and personnel watching the street cameras. We had been away from the Entertainment District for over an hour by the time we got back and continued to receive calls to different automobile accidents, so extra eyes were needed on LoDa while Officer Homsher came and went.

When he wasn’t on a call, Officer Homsher parked at a busy corner on Dauphin Street to help keep an eye on the pedestrians while he wrote and charted his accident reports. The squad sergeant and the overtime officers were typically on the street, walking and chatting with people—reminiscent of bygone days when all officers were on foot patrol. They’d fall into formation when they saw an altercation or got word over their earpieces about trouble down the block, but otherwise appeared approachable to Mobilians enjoying the night.

Issues noticeably increased after one in the morning, all involving people who had drunk too much and became upset over something. Once, upon seeing the others in a pursuit, Homsher jumped out of the Tahoe and ran to help. During that incident, the subject’s friends were trying to calm him down as the officers followed him, but nothing could deescalate the subject’s temper. I watched the subject be peacefully escorted from halfway up the block on Jackson Street, but when he got to Dauphin, he began resisting physically and verbally—adding another charge to his infractions.

There were only a handful of disorderly issues needing police intervention from what I witnessed during my time in the Entertainment District. A couple calls had to be checked on during the predawn hours including an S.O.S. and a medical alert rather than the typical building alarm or 9-1-1 hangups on previous rides, but they too turned out to be false. Once the final revelers stumbled away, the extra officers were sent home while Central squad kept watch for several more hours.

After about an hour of relative peace—time enough for Officer Homsher to complete his reports and make several patrols loops—predawn brought a different group of people to the area. Sanitation workers, hospitality helpers, restaurant prep, and construction crews reset downtown for its daytime ritual. Small but mighty, Central keeps downtown safe with the assistance of officers from other precincts in the MPD family. I certainly want to ride there again. If not for the activity, comradery, or people watching, then to hopefully catch another amazing sunrise over the delta.