Is Mobile Becoming More Violent?
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
August 11, 2025
MOBILE, AL. Another shooting in the heart of downtown Mobile again this weekend has many asking if they’re safe when they visit the entertainment district on weekend nights or at any other time.
While shootings in Mobile do not happen as often as some might think that they do, perception can often become reality for some people.
Relatively speaking, the City of Mobile is somewhat safe and somewhat dangerous.
There are plenty of crimes in the city. Drugs, property crimes, street robberies, disturbances, and property crimes are the most frequent types of crimes that occur, but there are also plenty of shootings.
The answer lies within the police reports that are written by law enforcement.
Gun violence is frequent but often involves people who know each other and become engaged in a dispute that ends in gunfire.
To have very accurate crime statistics, you have to have a very accurate reporting system.
Some calls for service, such as a suspicious person, a broken window, car accidents, and many areas that cover property crimes, often do not have a report written, and there are various reasons why they are not.
There’s no complainant, no victim, the reporting person doesn’t want a report written, or sometimes, police departments use creative reporting in situations where there were multiple victims during the same incident.
For example, police have responded to an apartment complex where nine vehicles were broken into on the same night and around the same time.
One case number is sometimes generated, and it lists the names of the victims (vehicle owners) all in one report, making it look like there was just one car burglary instead of nine.
This causes the crime stats to look better than they are, and the crime in the city to be less than it is.
In a city of 182, 595 people, there’s going to be crime, and that crime, no matter how much you police the community, will have murders, robberies, sexual assaults, theft, home invasions, and every other type of crime that one might think of. That’s the reality of our world today.
And as every police chief knows, police can help to control crime, but will never stop certain types of crime.
Homicides were up in Mobile during 2024, a report by the Mobile Police stated earlier this year, and the report stated that the overall crime in the port city was down. But was it really?
Statistics are not always accurate. The data that is being recorded by humans and sometimes it’s not as accurate as it should be.
The report stated that there were 37 homicides in 2024, 33 in 2023, and that 2021 had the most homicides during the past ten years, with 51 that year.
During a ten-year period, homicides in Mobile averaged under 30 killings per year. For a metropolitan city with such a large, diverse population, Mobile has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation.
Crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise nationwide. It’s a fact that we live with.
Remember, each of us can keep ourselves and our family safer by taking just a few precautions:
Don’t put yourself in situations or places that you’re not comfortable with or feel like it’s not something that you should do.
We all have that “gut feeling” that sends us a warning signal.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so just leave it and move on.
Don’t drive through dark and deserted streets at night that you’re not familiar with. Stay on well-lit roads that have easy access to escape routes if it’s necessary to flee quickly.
Make sure that your cellphone is always charged to the maximum. It’s your lifeline in an emergency.
Be alert, be aware, be cautious, and when in doubt, get out!
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