Category: WRITING
-
Fragments Observed: Riding with the Mobile Police Department, Part 10

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…
-
Fragments Observed: Riding with the Mobile Police Department, Part 9

Summer of 2025 was my previous visit to 1st Precinct. In August, arriving for the night shift allowed for a couple hours of daylight once patrol started. Not so on the December evening I returned to the same squad. The cold drizzle had the precinct cat hiding in the dark. As officers entered the Roll…
-
Fragments Observed: Riding with the Mobile Police Department, Part 7

The temperatures might have cooled, but criminal activity was ripe in southwest Mobile when I returned to 2nd Precinct in October. A sergeant from the squad I rode with over the summer held the station door open while teasing me about abandoning his group for their counterpart. While I do enjoy return rides to familiar…
-
Fragments Observed: Riding with the Mobile Police Department, Part 5

Thanks to a steamy August afternoon, condensation coated the windows of the lobby at 1st Precinct on Dauphin Island Parkway. The precinct cat lounged on the sidewalk near the door—not bothering to withdraw from a stranger in the heavy evening air. Though it was the end of most people’s workday and week, the squad sergeant…