MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile City Council’s Public Safety Committee will meet Tuesday, Sept. 22, to discuss the downtown curfew and other public safety issues, a session District 2 Councilwoman Samantha Ingram is urging residents to follow after another round of gunfire on Rickarby Street.
The committee meeting is set for 1 p.m. at Government Plaza. The council has described it as a working meeting, meaning no public questions or comments will be taken.
Ingram addressed both the meeting and the shootings in her weekly newsletter to District 2 residents, calling the violence “another reminder that we have work to do.”
Downtown curfew meeting details
Here is what residents need to know about Tuesday’s session:
- What: Mobile City Council Public Safety Committee meeting
- When: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, at 1 p.m.
- Where: Mobile City Council conference room, 9th floor of the South Tower, 205 Government Plaza
- Purpose: To discuss the downtown curfew and other related public safety issues
- Public input: None. It is a working meeting, and no public questions or comments will be taken.
The council’s announcement did not say whether any changes to the curfew will be proposed.
Ingram encouraged residents who cannot attend to watch the meeting live. “While this is a working meeting and public comments will not be taken, I encourage you to stay informed and pay attention to the conversation,” she wrote.
How Mobile’s downtown curfew works
Mobile’s downtown curfew applies to minors in the city’s downtown entertainment district, the heart of the city’s downtown nightlife.
The Mobile Police Department has said the curfew applies to anyone younger than 18 and runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The department has issued public reminders about the rule ahead of busy periods, including before the Fourth of July holiday this year, and has urged parents and guardians to know the curfew hours and to accompany young people downtown late at night.
Minors who are with a parent or guardian are not in violation. When it has announced enforcement, the department has said officers will check identification.
A curfew with roots going back more than two decades
Mobile first adopted a juvenile curfew ordinance in May 2002. In 2011, city leaders took up an updated version that expanded the rules and created the stricter standard for the downtown entertainment district.
As written in 2011, the ordinance set these hours for people younger than 18:
- Downtown entertainment district: 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day, with exceptions for New Year’s Eve, BayFest and Mardi Gras
- Elsewhere in the city, Sunday through Thursday nights: 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
- Elsewhere in the city, weekend nights: 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m.
- Daytime, for minors younger than 17: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays when school is in session
The 2011 ordinance also listed defenses, such as being with a parent or guardian, running a lawful errand, going to or from a job, dealing with an emergency, attending school activities, seeking medical care or exercising First Amendment rights.
Penalties under the 2011 ordinance reached beyond the minors themselves:
- Minors: Subject to juvenile court, with fines of up to $100
- Parents or guardians: $100 for a first violation; up to $500 or up to six months in jail for later violations
- Business owners or operators: The same penalties as parents or guardians
Past enforcement pushes and results
The city has periodically stepped up enforcement. In June 2020, then-Police Chief Lawrence Battiste announced that officers would not issue warnings to minors found in the entertainment district after hours during that summer.
“We’re making a plea to parents to hold their children accountable and to keep them out of the entertainment district downtown,” Battiste said at the time. Police said then that parents would face a $100 fine for a first violation and $500 for each violation after that.
This summer, as leaders in Pensacola weighed a teen curfew of their own following a July mass shooting on that city’s Palafox Street, Mobile police pointed to the local ordinance as an example. Mobile Police spokesperson Roderick Miles said the restriction had reduced crime in the district.
“We have to put some type of enforcement in place just to make sure that we’re protecting the community,” Miles said. He also stressed the importance of involving parents and young people themselves in the effort.
Ingram: ‘It takes all of us’
Ingram’s newsletter focused heavily on violence in her district, specifically the latest shooting on Rickarby Street, which she noted was the second shooting in that neighborhood in less than two months.
“When violence happens in one of our neighborhoods, it affects all of us. It affects the people who live there, the families who are raising their children there, and the neighbors who should be able to feel safe in their own homes.”
She pointed to security camera video from the most recent incident. “What happened Monday night is especially concerning because video from a security camera appears to show multiple people firing at each other in the middle of the neighborhood,” she wrote. “Thankfully, no injuries were reported, but we cannot look at that as the end of the conversation.”
Ingram said police and city leaders have a responsibility to address public safety, but she called on residents and community organizations to do their part as well.
“If you see something that is not right, report it. If you have information that could help investigators identify those responsible, please come forward,” she wrote. “I know people can be hesitant to speak up. But staying silent does not make the problem go away.”
She closed by urging residents to “stay engaged. Speak up. Report what you see.”
What happened on Rickarby Street
The most recent incident happened in the 550 block of Rickarby Street earlier this month. Mobile police said an occupied home and three unoccupied vehicles were struck by gunfire. No one was hurt.
The earlier shooting, on the night of July 22, left a woman who police described as an innocent bystander with a gunshot wound to the head.
Mobile police are offering a $2,500 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Rickarby Street shootings. Police Chief William Jackson said officers have been patrolling the area on foot and in vehicles and speaking with residents in the 500 block.
“Someone knows more about these shootings than we’re being told, and it’s vital they step up and do the right thing by coming forward with information,” Jackson said.
Tips can be shared with the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211. Police said all tips are kept confidential.
About Councilwoman Samantha Ingram
Ingram won the District 2 seat in the 2025 city election, defeating incumbent William Carroll outright with about 53% of the vote, and took office in November 2025.
A Mobile native, she attended Ben C. Rain High School and Auburn University and began her career as a science teacher at Blount High School. She later served as deputy superintendent of the Mobile County Public School System and held a senior leadership role with the Department of Defense Education Activity, which serves the children of military families.
How to share your concerns
Although no public comment will be taken Tuesday, Ingram said she wants to hear from residents about public safety concerns in their neighborhoods. “As your councilwoman, I will continue listening, advocating, and bringing your concerns to the table,” she wrote.
District 2 residents can reach her office:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 251-208-7441
Residents in other districts can contact their own council member through the city of Mobile’s website. Anyone with information about a crime can call the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211, and anyone facing an emergency should call 911.
Update: Police outline curfew enforcement challenges at committee meeting (Sept. 22, 2026)
At Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, Mobile police leaders told council members that large groups of young people in the downtown entertainment district are making the juvenile curfew difficult to enforce.
Police said recent complaints downtown have involved large groups of teenagers, including fights, confrontations and attempts by underage teens to get into bars.
Adults dropping juveniles off
Police Chief William Jackson said the problem is not only young people coming downtown on their own.
“Well, the issue with the curfew is just the fact that juveniles are in the entertainment district only. There’s a time when they have to leave and they can’t return. Our problem a lot of times is not only them coming on their own, but even adults dropping them off to be in that situation,” Jackson said.
Jackson said enforcement starts at home with parents.
Crowds of 50 to 100
Deputy Chief Matthew Garrett said officers have encountered groups of 50 to 100 juveniles at a time. Crowds that size make enforcement hard, he said, because officers cannot detain every young person while trying to reach each parent or guardian.
Garrett also said the department does not have a dedicated facility where juveniles can be held while officers contact their families. Police said they are weighing a designated curfew holding location.
The 18-to-20 gap
A separate challenge involves young adults ages 18 to 20. They are too old for the juvenile curfew, which applies only to those under 18, but too young to enter bars, and police said groups of them congregating downtown have worried local businesses.
“There is not a lot we can do about that,” Garrett said. “That is an issue we have faced downtown between that gap of 18 to 21. They are too old for the curfew, but they are too young to go inside the businesses.”
Council members asked whether the city could broaden its rules to address the issue. Police officials said restricting adults from the district could raise constitutional concerns, though they said they are open to other options to improve safety.
“We’re going to continue working with the plan we have. If the council makes changes to that, which I’m not sure that they can do constitutionally,” Jackson said. “But if they make changes then we’ll make adjustments. But for now, we’re going to continue with the same plan that we already used that’s in place with the curfew.”
How enforcement works now
Anyone under 18 is barred from the downtown entertainment district from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Police described the steps officers take:
- Officers may ask for identification when someone appears to be a juvenile.
- A minor found downtown after curfew may be warned and released, or held until a parent or guardian arrives.
- Parents face a $100 fine for a first citation. A second offense within a year carries a $500 fine.
- Officers are monitoring social media for planned juvenile meetups and stepping up downtown patrols.
Jackson said the department plans in advance for large events that draw bigger crowds downtown. “There is time where something unexpected happens, but we know the events that are coming and we plan for it,” he said. “Whether there is officers on foot, vehicle, horses, whatever it may be, we plan for it in advance.”
City leaders said the curfew is only one part of a broader strategy for managing large groups of young people downtown, with the goal of involving parents and giving officers the tools to identify juveniles and respond before situations escalate.
Rickarby Street
Councilwoman Samantha Ingram has continued to urge residents to come forward with information about the Rickarby Street shootings. “Our neighborhoods deserve better, and we have to be willing to work together to protect them,” she said. Mobile police have offered a $2,500 reward in the case, and tips can be shared confidentially at 251-208-7211.
Related coverage from South AL News
- Councilwoman Samantha Ingram Sets Community Safety Forum at Mobile's Rickarby Center
- 'Surround Genade With Love & Hope': Downtown Mobile Benefit Rallies Around Rickarby Street Shooting Survivor
- Mobile's Teen Curfew Law Could Guide Pensacola's Debate
- $2,500 on the Table: Mobile Police Put a Reward on Two Rickarby Street Shootings Seven Weeks Apart
