An unseasonably humid pre-dawn Saturday in January found me at morning roll call in 4th Precinct for my fifth ride in the area, and my third for this series. See Part One and Part Six of “Fragments Observed: Riding with the Mobile Police Department” for my previous articles in this precinct.
Besides the squad being noticeably smaller than my other times riding in northwest Mobile, the types of calls we were dispatched to were mixed with both the usual and different ones than on previous rides with Officer Wells. Before she could make a full patrol of her beat, dispatch sent her to the intersection in front of the Mobile Regional Airport to file a report about a vehicle striking a deer.
After nearly an hour of patrol time, Officer Wells joined other members of the squad on a criminal mischief call when a suspect involved in damage to property the previous evening was spotted by one of the witnesses to the event. Several officers responded, as well as squad leadership, and the suspect was taken to the precinct for questioning by a detective.
The longest call of the day was a landlord/renter dispute complicated by the fact that it involved family members across generations. The person who called about it was one of the renters who requested police presence while the situation was discussed with the owner. Fortunately only voices were raised while we were there. I hope the residents were able to keep some level of peace once the officers were gone.
The day was filled with patrol time plus calls about a bank alarm (which was accidentally triggered by an employee), a supposedly unsupervised minor, a service provider alert ping about a car accident (which turned out to be false), a family violence situation which had settled itself before the officers arrived on scene, a witness alerting the police about a woman checking business mailboxes in an area, and a fender-bender accident.
The final call was a welfare check involving a senior couple. The woman’s social media account had been hacked and concerned family/friends receiving direct requests for financial help from the woman’s account called the police and asked them to physically check on her.
Looking back, even after 168 hours on patrol with MPD, this twelve-hour shift was as varied and unique from my vantage point as it would have been early on in my rides. Thank you, officers, for continuing to assist Mobilians, no matter the call.
Fragments Observed: Lessons Learned on Patrol releases on March 24, 2026 in paperback and e-book. Details about the Launch Party and book signing with Carrie and Captain Billie Rowland (Commander of 4th Precinct) at The Haunted Book Shop on March 28, 2026 at 3pm can be found here.
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