Enforcing existing ordinances and lighting up Dauphin Street with floodlights were two main solutions to public safety concerns in downtown Mobile that came out of a meeting Wednesday with Mobile police and bar and restaurant owners.

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The solutions are part of a plan by police to heighten enforcement in the city’s downtown area following a deadly shooting on New Year’s Eve and ahead of the city’s Carnival season next month.

“The main focus was (the business owners) would like to see more vigorous enforcement of the entertainment district rules,” Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine said Thursday.

The highlights include:

• Enforcing a teen curfew ordinance prohibiting youths under age 18 from being downtown after 10 p.m. or before 5 a.m.
• Prohibiting tailgating or what police call “bars in cars” where visitors to downtown Mobile bring coolers of liquor and refill their drinks from their parked vehicles.
• Ensuring the city’s noise ordinance is followed and cracking down on loud music.
• Require patrons within the downtown area drink alcoholic beverages within the prescribed 16-ounce LODA-labeled plastic cups.
• Cracking down on excessive exhibition or dangerous driving.
• Installing large flood lights along Dauphin between Jackson and Conception streets.

Changing hours

The suggestions did not include changes to the entertainment district ordinance that would include, among other things, altering the hours for outdoor drinking.

Greg Loughlin, owner of Saddle Up Saloon, said during Tuesday’s Mobile City Council meeting that city officials ought to consider rolling back the entertainment district’s closing time from midnight to 9 p.m.

“Most of the operators present at the meeting were not supportive of that, and even our restaurant operators, like our fine dining establishments, thought that was not a solution,” said Carol Hunter, spokeswoman with the Downtown Mobile Alliance.

Mobile City Councilman William Carroll, who represents downtown Mobile, said on Tuesday that he does not favor additional restrictions within the downtown area. He does not favor rolling back the hours.

The hours have been rolled back once in 2016, when council members agreed to change the outdoor drinking from 2 a.m. to midnight amid concerns over outdoor block parties and violent encounters.

Other council members have not weighed in on changing the hours within the entertainment districts.

Councilman Scott Jones, whose district does not include an entertainment district, declined to comment about specific issues within the districts.

But he said something needs to be done.

“I do believe we need to have a formal discussion on the issues we are seeing and figure out what right looks like,” Jones said. “We cannot accept what happened on New Year’s Eve without making changes, especially with all of the major events coming in the next month.”

Enforcing existing ordinances

David Rasp, the longtime owner of Heroes Sports Bar & Grille, said he does not believe changing the district’s hours is the right way to go “until, and unless, we have committed ourselves to the enforcement of all ordinances and laws we have in place.”

“To me, it’s an issue of if we’re committed to an area that we’ll enforce those ordinances and do so with some consistency,” Rasp said. “We just have to proactively manage this area that creates a welcoming and safe environment for the broader public.”

He said he believes the city already has plenty of ordinances on its books to address the concerns in downtown Mobile.

“Traffic, noise, loitering, panhandling and all of these behaviors and activities contribute to the environment we are in,” said Rasp. “We have no shortage of ordinances that address all of those issues.”

Prine said it can be difficult to enforce some of the ordinances within the districts, particularly restricting people to drink alcoholic beverages in the plastic LODA cups.

“That can be problematic in only that for a lot of young folks who come downtown and who don’t have the means to spend money in the entertainment district, they will take the cups and go to cars and refill their alcohol,” Prine said.

Floodlights

Mobile has three entertainment districts, all located in the downtown area. The first district was created about 10 years ago, and each one allows patrons to consume alcoholic beverage within their boundaries.

Almost all of Dauphin Street, from Broad to Royal streets, is included within an entertainment district. Only a three-block area between Cedar and Franklin streets is omitted.

Hunter said she cannot recall a section of Dauphin Street illuminated by flood lights before. Prine said that they are used during Mardi Gras to light up a section of Government Street.

He said that the flood lights will remain on Government during this year’s Carnival parading season. He said that several flood lights will be placed on Dauphin between Jackson and Conception streets.

“That will be a deterrence with folks who come down with nefarious intent,” Prine said. “It should be a deterrent to let (problem makers) know there are cameras downtown and these lights will … catch you.”

More police

Prine, who said his agency is down by about 70 police officers, has repeatedly said the agency is relying on the public to alert police whenever they see something suspicious.

At the time of the New Year’s Eve shooting, there were police officers within 30 feet of where the suspect gunman, Thomas Earl Thomas Jr., shot and killed 24-year-old Jatarious Reives following and encounter between the two. Thomas was also shot, and so were eight others.

“The question is this, in a society prone to more violence, what is the (optimal) number of police?” Prine said. “Certainly, if you use the measure of New Year’s Eve, there are people who say, ‘listen, there were law enforcement everywhere’ and ‘I don’t understand how this happens.’ This proves my point. If someone is intent to harm or kill someone, there is little law enforcement can do.”

He added, “There was a police bike cruiser 30 feet from the shooting. The perception is (downtown) is unsafe. We are taking measures to address it.”

Prine said police are battling a perception that there is not enough law enforcement presence in downtown Mobile. Loughlin, for instance, said there are instances in downtown Mobile when he cannot find a police officer late at night.

“There are things we can do and are starting to do and that includes running (police cars) with stationary cruise (blue) lights on,” Prine said. “That’s the signal to pull over. We find that makes us more visible. But all that does is make people feel safe. It doesn’t mean that you will necessarily prevent something from happening.”