The City of Mobile takes action to prevent crime in neighborhood

Jan 22nd, 2016

MOBILE, Ala - The City of Mobile is taking action to circumvent crime in the Rosswood neighborhood following reports of multiple burglaries.

"To continue on the pathway of becoming the safest city in America, we must utilize every strategy in our playbook," said Mayor Stimpson. "Our citizens deserve to feel safe in their own homes."

The City will temporarily close the South Richardson Drive entrance to the neighborhood, accessed via East Richardson Lane and Cottage Hill Road. The ultimate goal is to place an automated gate that could only be accessed by first responders addressing emergencies in the area.

"The automated gate can ensure prompt access for teams coming in from other locations," said Assistant Fire Chief Billy Pappas. "There are neighborhoods in our community that have the passcode or siren-activated gates in place that our teams utilize to get emergency apparatus into and out of the area. We've had strong cooperation between MFRD, traffic engineering, MPD, and the property owners in the area to ensure it."

Over a three week period, the neighborhood experienced 5 residential burglaries and 8 vehicle burglaries not including several unreported crimes. In all of these cases, the perpetrator was utilizing the back entrance to the subdivision.

"Controlled access into neighborhoods helps increase the overall safety of the neighborhoods by restricting the flow of traffic to those vehicles that have a need to be in said neighborhood and helps provide for greater awareness of people and vehicles that ultimately enter the neighborhood," said Assistant Police Chief Lawrence L. Battiste IV.