Is roadblock timing off?
By now, everyone is familiar with the increase of police roadblocks in the area.
The evening of Saturday, March 8, I saw six police cars, a greater number of officers, a generator and high-intensity light in the lot on the northeast corner of Broad and Government. One officer was checking licenses and insurance on all westbound traffic while his compatriots milled about the vacant lot.
A similar operation was set-up just beyond the exit of the Bankhead Tunnel catching eastbound traffic on the Causeway.
The next day, I saw eight officers with an equal number of cruisers engaged in the same operation at the intersection of Upham and Old Shell in Midtown. Fifteen minutes later, I spied a line of police cruisers headed east on Government, no doubt in route to a similar operation elsewhere in town.
I appreciate the argument in favor of such activities but have to wonder if this is the best use of manpower while Mobile is currently undergoing a spike in violent crimes and robberies. Is there nothing else these officers could be doing to make their presence more well known and widespread throughout the community, especially in regard to curtailing more dangerous activity?
I know of one business owner in the Loop who bent my ear last week about the anxiety caused from the recent rash of robberies in that area. I feel she would be none-too-pleased to pass through one of these roadblocks while she spends every night wondering if she is going to be next up on the “armed robbery hit parade.”
Tags: crime, News, police, roadblocks, robberies
March 9th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Yeah I saw those advertised in the Friday PR. They may be trying to
deter and catch robbers via the roadblocks but I think they should
dispatch individual cars to various locations and just park and
advertise their presence. As for the roadblocks it might be said they
are for checking insurance and licenses but really it’s the most legal
way the police have to check everyone passing a location. You can’t stop
a car full of guys just because they look like they could be up to no
good, but if they arrive at the roadblock . . .
March 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
They also seemed to be fond off throwing one up between 4 and 6 pm on Zeigler during the work week. I fit “the profile,” which pretty much gets me checked every time. I’ll figure it out one day.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Setting up a road block at a busy intersection during commute hours
not only makes bad sense it makes for bad public relations.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Tell me about it. They’ll end up screwing up like Georgia Highway patrol did back in the 90s when they threw up a roadblock on the interstate during one of the hottest days of summer. Old people were stroking out; cars were overheating. Needless to say, they made it a policy never to do it again.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Seems to me it is nothing more than a way to raise some money through the insurance checks. More like the lazy way of doing policework. Remember, they started the roadblocks in response to a shootout in a McDonalds drive-through in Prichard.
How one is connected to the other is beyond me, but as a resident I definitely feel like my rights are being violated by being stopped and searched without any probable cause (regardless of what the Supreme Court says about these catch-all roadblocks).
I actually will choose not to go out to eat in certain areas where they will be having roadblocks because I don’t want to be inconvenienced and pissed off by having to deal with them. Ask Mrs. Wheat’s Treats on Florida St. what she thinks about this use of police resources. Her shop was burglarized 3 times in one month. Armed robbery is on the rise, home invasions seem to be going up, and we have 10-15 officers sitting in one location looking for insurance cards.