The city was cloaked in darkness when I reported to Central Precinct for a night shift ride on a Saturday in November. It was a return visit to the squad, four months after my summer ride with them. As much as I enjoy riding with new squads, I do like the comfort of familiar faces and not having to introduce myself. It was a mix of both things that evening as I was assigned to an officer who had been off duty during my previous ride.
The shift turned out to be one of my only patrols that didn’t have dispatches to traffic accidents, but there were plenty of parking violations throughout the shift. When downtown, it’s especially important to pay attention to the street parking signs. Just because the meters are free on the weekends, doesn’t mean you can disregard the other postings such as parking spots clearly labeled for MPD only and no parking after 11pm on certain blocks of Dauphin Street.
One of the few direct calls we received happened the first hour regarding a fight at Father Ryan Park. When we arrived, no people or vehicle matching the descriptions of those involved were on the scene. Then an update from dispatch said the individual had moved to Cathedral Square. My host and the backing officer canvased the park on foot, but came back with no leads.
While the sergeant and others—including the extra officers from different precincts working overtime—kept sharp eyes on the entertainment district, my hosting officer was part of the perimeter patrol. From Broad to Water Streets and Beauregard to Canal, our unit patrolled the streets, parking lots, and parking garages. Parking garages were a first for me on patrol with MPD. We went up to the top level of several garages in the area, both on call (reports of motorcycles racing on the top deck) and for regular patrol. In a small garage, the officer was thanked by a resident from an adjacent building, saying he appreciated MPD patrolling it. The larger garages offered river views and great vantage points of historic architecture, like the Van Antwerp building.
There were two offers of assistance in the early morning hours. One was a lady in the middle of Congress Street who waved the patrol vehicle over. Her story was riddled with inconsistencies and her requests beyond what the officer could reasonably do. When she was unable to secure police transportation to an area outside the city limits or use the officer’s personal phone, she agreed to have an ambulance transport her to a hospital. While waiting for medical assistance to arrive, the officer questioned her to try to understand her real situation. Not liking the extra enquiries, she staggered to her feet and walked away yelling obscenities about the police before the ambulance could arrive.
The successful offer of help came through dispatch half an hour later. Three women could not find their vehicle after leaving a concert and had become lost. We found them alongside Spanish Plaza, south of Government Street. After verifying that the make and model of their car wasn’t one of the vehicles towed hours before, the officer offered to drive them to search for their car. Eager to get off their high heels, all three piled into the back seat of the Tahoe. After a few questions and a couple streets ruled out, the officer took them to a parking lot on Franklin, north of Dauphin Street, where they found their vehicle.
Another duty the officer I was with oversaw that shift was placing barricades up and then removing them. The section of Dauphin Street from N. Claiborne to N. Conception Streets are closed to traffic on certain nights due to the volume of foot traffic between the bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Mobile Police Department officers place the barricades before the street closes and then remove them from the roads during the three o’clock hour, once things wind down.
When half the barricades were open, an out-of-state sedan sped down Dauphin Street—going the wrong way. Reacting to the lights and sirens on the Tahoe, they pulled onto a side road, facing the wrong way yet again. The officer pointed them in the right direction and they left without further issue.
Then the quiet hour arrived, before the sanitation and hospitality workers enter the scene. The streets are in serious need of sweeping and the curbside garbage collected. There’s something eerily depressing about an empty, littered street. People enjoy coming downtown to have fun, but it would be nice if they respected the historic lanes rather than throwing their trash on the ground for other people to clean up. It’s especially frustrating when trash is lying beside collection bins. Please “Keep Mobile Beautiful” in mind, especially during Mardi Gras season.
P.S. There’s a new page on my website especially for my nonfiction writing. Visit it at the above hyperlink or by copy/pasting the following address in your browser:
https://carriedalby.com/nonfiction/
carriedalby.com 
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