Mobile Police Chief James Barber began a series of evening presentations at Mobile County high schools in January 2015, part of a department initiative called "You Have a Choice" designed to reduce juvenile crime and build stronger relationships between police and young people.
The program was first introduced to the Mobile County school system’s roughly 90 principals the previous October, laying the groundwork for a school-by-school rollout that continued into the new year. Barber framed the effort as a response to the limits of doing things the way they had always been done. "We have got to do something today so that we’re not doing the exact same thing five, 10, 15 or 20 years from now," he told principals when the program was introduced. "We have got to do something different. We can’t keep doing the status quo expecting different results."
Each session includes a roughly 17-minute video that combines a dramatized reenactment of a 2012 Mobile homicide case with interviews recorded at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and the Holman Correctional Facility. The goal is to give students a direct, unfiltered look at the consequences that can follow violent crime, both for victims and for those who end up incarcerated.
The sessions, held at 6:30 p.m., are open to high school students and their parents, with middle school students also welcome to attend. The rollout stretched across nearly a dozen campuses over several weeks, starting with Murphy High School and continuing through Baker, Citronelle, B.C. Rain, Bryant, Davidson, Williamson, Theodore, Blount, LeFlore, Mary G. Montgomery and Vigor high schools.
Programs like "You Have a Choice" reflect a broader strategy among law enforcement agencies to intervene before young people become involved in the criminal justice system, rather than relying solely on enforcement after a crime has already occurred. By pairing a police chief’s direct presence with graphic, real-world testimony from people currently incarcerated, the program aims to make the potential consequences of criminal behavior feel immediate and personal rather than abstract.
Mobile County’s size, as the largest school district in Alabama, meant the rollout required a sustained, multi-week schedule to reach campuses across the county, from urban Mobile high schools to more rural and suburban communities served by the district. Chief Barber’s direct involvement in each session underscored the department’s effort to position juvenile crime prevention as a priority alongside traditional policing.