Security beefed up for ship's arrival

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - With the Alabama Cruise Terminal taking center stage with the arrival of the Triumph, the City of Mobile didn't take any chances when it came to security and traffic needs.

 Mayor Sam Jones ordered extra manpower from the police department at the terminal.

 "Mobile is a city that wants to help the passengers on this ship," Mayor Jones said.  "We have a lot of buses coming through here (Wednesday), and we want to get them out as soon as possible. We don't want to bottleneck anything here; we want to keep everything flowing. So we have a lot of policemen down here for two reasons: security reasons and mostly for traffic control."

Mayor Jones couldn't say exactly how many hours of manpower were downtown because it has changed day by day.

He said it was time when family members would be reunited with loved ones, so emotions would be high, and a strong police presence should be reassuring.

 "We want people to have a good experience when they come to Mobile" Mayor Jones said.  "And I think with what these people have gone through, we want to make sure that we can provide them as much hospitality as we can, that we don't bottleneck anything to keep people here longer than they need to be here, and we want to give them every opportunity to get what they need in Mobile."

Mayor Jones said Mobile also provided shuttles downtown for more than 150 Triumph passengers and their family members who have recently called the Port City home.