MOBILE, Ala. — When a Mobile County Public Schools student recently spotted a weapon on a classmate, the response was swift: four Mobile police officers converged on the campus within minutes, working alongside the school’s resource officer to search students one by one. No gun was ultimately found, but the incident illustrates how tightly Mobile police and school security now coordinate when a threat surfaces.
According to Officer Byron Sutherland of the Mobile Police Department’s Third Precinct, once a call for help comes in from a school resource officer, every nearby patrol officer starts heading toward the campus as a precaution. “We have a good relationship,” said Lt. William Reed, also of the Third Precinct, noting that many of the district’s school resource officers previously worked in law enforcement themselves. In one precinct alone, a former Mobile homicide detective now rotates between campuses in that role.
Nearly all 12 school resource officers assigned to Mobile County schools come from law enforcement or military backgrounds, according to district data. William Duffy, director of MCPSS’s Security Division, said that experience helps resource officers build fast, trusted relationships with outside agencies when incidents escalate beyond routine matters — from local police to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security and military investigative units. “All felony incidents are reported to the (law enforcement agency) with jurisdiction and a coordinated, cooperative investigative process is employed,” Duffy said, adding that information is shared among agencies daily.
Technology has also expanded what officers can do in real time. Since 2012, law enforcement agencies have had access to the school system’s live security camera feeds, which Reed said help officers track active situations or narrow down suspects when a student reports seeing someone with a weapon but can offer only a vague description.
Beyond responding to incidents already underway, Mobile police have also rolled out a prevention-focused effort aimed at steering at-risk youth away from trouble before it starts. Police Chief James Barber unveiled the “You Have a Choice” program earlier this month, built around a video featuring interviews with inmates conducted by a former Mobile County district attorney. The video, which the department plans to show to children wherever it can be screened, highlights the department’s Family Intervention Team as a resource for families and includes contact information for parents seeking help.
“He’s bringing every officer on board and training on it,” Reed said of the chief’s initiative, adding that while police can respond quickly to threats, they can’t replace the influence of parents and other trusted adults in a child’s life. “We have to get parents involved, and this is an avenue to get that out there.”