Behind the Badge: A look at the Gulfport PD Interdiction Unit
GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV)- Policing is usually a fast-paced job, but for Gulfport’s interdiction unit, catching criminals often comes down to patience.
After spending an evening with the unit, News 25’s Brynne Baxley shows us how officers work to stop crime before it reaches our communities.
Detective Luis Garcia is part of Gulfport PD’s interdiction unit, where he works to stop criminal activity coming into the city or passing through on major roadways. He says the job requires patience. “You gotta look at stuff like this. If it’s not there that day, you know maybe the next day or the day after that or next week, right, it’s gonna be there. You know the way I see it is criminals, they gotta be lucky every time, I just gotta be lucky one time.”
Garcia says interdiction work is about much more than drug trafficking. Officers are constantly looking for criminal activity of all kids. But before making a stop, they must have probable cause. “It’s not just drugs it could be anything you know and for us to sit up here and say, ‘Oh I know that it’s gonna be this, we don’t. It’s a matter of being able to get out and just talk to these folks you know and be friendly about it, and that’s it.”
Officials have their own ways of spotting unusual activity, even with thousands of cars traveling the interstate every day. Technology like license plate readers can help narrow their focus. “Because if you notice when you’re up here and you’re seeing these cars and the way that they react to you, and it’s gonna be that one car that’s gonna do something completely different than everybody else. It’s not saying that there’s anything to it, there could be nothing to that. Some people are professionals at it, you know, and they’ve been doing it for a long time. They know what we’re looking for. It could be something as simple as this car right here or that car or whatever you know. It has no make, it has no model, it has no race, it has no gender.”
Tracking down these crimes can lead them off the interstate. Garcia says officers also monitor local hotels, airports, and other areas for criminal or suspicious activity. “Having somebody up there, it’s important for not only for our community, but also our state. Because these folks, believe it or not, they’re gonna come here and get a hotel or something and then essentially may even do crimes here. And it’s happened before where they’re coming through and stop in and burglarize Family Dollar or an ATM, and turn around and go back to wherever it is they’re coming from.”
He says successful interdiction work depends on teamwork, not only among local agencies, but also with law enforcement partners across the country.
