Mobile police suspends ‘perp walks’
By Shelby Myers
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A long-standing practice of the Mobile Police Department is coming to an end. An MPD spokesperson told FOX10 news, “perp walks” have been suspended until further notice.
Mobile police have escorted suspects to metro jail in front of media cameras for years.
They typically only did it for high profile crimes. It gives the media the opportunity to get video of the suspect on their way to jail and ask questions.
The last perp walks Mobile police did were for the three suspects accused of a drive-by shooting that killed a nine-year-old girl in early December.
The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office will sometimes hold perp walks too.
We spoke with DA Keith Blackwood who said he wasn’t aware MPD is ending its perp walk policy. He said sometimes they’re beneficial for his office in court.
Blackwood said, “I know that these videos have been used in cases in the past. You know that it’s not something that gets used very often, but I’ve seen over the course of my career where those have been admitted into evidence from time to time.”
There’s not a lot of other big cities that do them the way Mobile did, though.
Montgomery police said they do hold perp walks for murder cases, but they typically don’t invite the media.
Instead the police department records it and posts it on its own Facebook page without sound on the video.
Huntsville police do not do hold perp walks.
Tuscaloosa police only do them in high profile cases, like when Alabama basketball player Darius miles was arrested for a capital murder shooting death.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said it will continue to hold perp walks if it is a big enough case that affected public safety.
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