Author’s Note: In honor of National Police Week, I am posting this article early. Thank you, Mobile Police Department, for protecting and serving those living and visiting within the jurisdiction. Your work is appreciated!
My twelfth ride for this blog series began like many shifts. On a Monday morning in March, I meet my assigned host, Officer Bill, in morning roll call. Officer Bill’s patrol area was “in town” within the section of southwest Mobile covered by 2nd Precinct, but many of the day’s calls involved trips to Theodore. The day’s first dispatch for Officer Bill was to a church building alarm in Theodore, plus there were a few later trips to the area, including one for a 9-1-1 hang up. As noted in other articles, I have often witnessed the situations of false alarms and hangups. Plus there was a false alarm on a residential building later in the day that Officer Bill responded to, but none of the three calls were linked to legitimate emergencies.
Throughout the day, when he wasn’t dispatched to calls, Officer Bill patrolled his beat area with precision. Offering friendly waves to pedestrians and people in their yards as he drove the neighborhood streets was common. Having over two decades of patrol time with the department hadn’t dulled his willingness to stop when he saw someone in trouble, no matter the area he was in, like assisting a motorist who ran out of fuel in the middle of a busy road. Besides offering assistance directly, the MPD Tahoe acts as a beacon, drawing citizens to the nearest officer when in need. One woman approached Officer Bill in a gas station parking lot, close to tears after spending several cold, wet hours in the elements following a verbal domestic fight. He made a phone call to secure her transportation and made sure she was picked up by her family member before leaving the location.
The longest call of the day was for a deceased person. It was the first “dead body” call of my patrol time. A crew from Mobile Fire and Rescue Department was already on the scene, but it was too late for the elderly person who appeared to have died from natural causes. Officer Bill had to fill out a death report for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, speak to the person’s immediate family member plus primary care physician, and wait for an ambulance service to collect the body from the scene. While not a traumatic situation, it was still a humbling reminder of yet another heavy responsibility police officers carry amid their service to the community.
During the final few hours of patrol, the dispatch radio was “patched” with another precinct’s calls. That means we heard the calls being dispatched not only to our squad, but the squad in an adjacent precinct as well as the Traffic Unit. The radio chatter included a sighting of a stolen vehicle, a vehicle pursuit that ended in a car crash followed by a short foot chase, and frequent traffic issues during the afternoon commute, from fender benders to major accidents with injuries. Call volume was high.
When Officer Bill received a dispatch to attend a disorderly call, he was told to “stand by for back up.” We waited a block away from the scene for forty minutes until the backing units arrived. By then, the situation had fortunately calmed itself without incident, but concern from people seeking police assistance can easily turn to frustration when help doesn’t arrive quickly. Due to safety measures in place for officers, there are some things they aren’t supposed to do without authorization. During high call volume times, it can take a while until another patrol unit is available. Having two or more officers on potentially volatile scenes hopefully prevents them from walking into a situation that could be deadly if they responded alone.
To close out the day, Officer Bill’s final call for the shift was a minor traffic accident in Theodore. It took almost an hour for him to speak to each driver and collect their written statements, and then he had to compile the report, including a visual diagram of the accident scene. Another busy patrol shift with a wide variety of calls.
Closing Thoughts:
In June 2025, I opened the “Riding with the Mobile Police Department” segment of this “Fragments Observed” series with the note that the articles would not be comprehensive accounts. The series was meant to portray a glimpse into the patrol work of MPD officers across the city. I have completed over 150 hours on patrol for this series, and 202 hours total since I began my journey with MPD. I might not have written all the details about my time with the different officers (not even in my book Fragments Observed: Lessons Learned on Patrol), but I have been changed for the better from my experiences.
This article was planned to be my last. After receiving encouragement from multiple MPD staff and civilians, I have decided to keep the series going. It is my hope that readers continue to gain a better understanding of the variety of work and the daily stresses the officers in our community deal with so more of us can respond with compassion rather than anger. Forthcoming articles might not be monthly, but I will continue to post them on the blog feed, plus link to the articles on the NONFICTION page on my website for easy access. Up next will be a report about my day with MPD’s Financial Crimes Unit. Watch for that article in June 2026.
And, once again, I’d like to send a special thank you to all the hosting officers and their squads I have ridden with. Your service to the community is vital!
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