State Troopers Don’t Just Write Tickets
MOBILE Ala.
By Rick McCann
BlueRAMMedia.com
March 3rd, 2025
State troopers here, along the Gulf Coast, in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, make hundreds of traffic stops weekly for a variety of traffic infractions.
Sometimes the driver is going too fast or not wearing a seat belt.
Other infractions may include a person who is driving a vehicle with an expired license plate, or they’ve committed some other traffic offense.
Most driving offenses in Alabama are considered criminal misdemeanors and although these offenses are not as grievous as felonies, they are taken seriously in the state.
Misdemeanor violations occur when the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Code (title 32) is violated. Traffic misdemeanors are more severe than infractions and law enforcement has discretion as to how to handle each offense depending on various circumstances.
When making traffic stops, most officers will check the validity of the license and the registration of the vehicle as well as checking for any outstanding warrants that the driver or passengers may have.
Unfortunately, several times a day, those checks come back with a positive outstanding warrant ranging from not going to court for a previous ticket to something much more serious and violent including weapon charges, robberies, assaults, drugs, and even murder.
Recently, ALEA was called in along with several other law enforcement agencies to stop a vehicle on Interstate 10 that was wanted for a kidnapping that had allegedly occurred in Mississippi.
Troopers also provide first-aid to accident victims and respond to medical emergencies that frequently occur on the roads that they patrol as well as providing motorists with roadside assistance when necessary.
Troopers also respond to and investigate dozens of motor vehicle collisions including those that are fatal.
Troopers with specialized training including accident reconstruction are also dispatched to very serious wrecks including those with great bodily injuries or those that are fatal, to document every detail of the wreck, including mapping out the directions of each vehicle, the force of the collision, and determining the speed of the vehicles at impact.
A tool commonly used by police to recreate a motor vehicle crash is a 3D laser scanner, like the FARO Focus 3D, which captures detailed measurements of the crash scene, allowing for accurate virtual reconstruction of the event and analysis of the collision dynamics; additionally, many modern vehicles have “Event Data Recorders” (EDR) which can be accessed using a specialized tool to retrieve data about the crash like vehicle speed and braking patterns before impact.
Once that all the data is collected and analyzed, troopers may seek an arrest warrant for the driver that they believe is responsible for the crash and those charges could arrange from DUI or assault to Manslaughter.
While many believe that state troopers only police the Interstate, the fact is that as their title implies, all state tropers have statewide law enforcement authority.
And while much of their focus may be on patrolling our busy Interstates, troopers also patrol and investigate motor vehicle accidents on other state roads as well patrolling our waterways.
Locally, the Alabama Marine Police, which are part of ALEA, patrol area rivers, lakes and the Gulf waters enforcing maritime laws, responding to and investigating boating accidents, participating in the recovery of drowning victims and assisting vessels that have broken down on the water.
And ALEA, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which was formed in 2015 by merging twelve other law enforcement agencies, and has two main functions, the Department of Public Safety and the State Bureau of Investigations.
DPS handles the “uniform policing” duties and the SBI, are state law enforcement investigators who investigate serious crimes occurring in the state ranging from drug offenses to homicide, and everything in between.
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