The number of men lingering under the awnings of liquor stores and quick marts is dwindling, but Chattanooga Police Investigator Curtis Penney can see a few.
“Unless y’all own the building, hit the bricks,” Penney says over a loudspeaker in a marked patrol car.
A couple of patrons at J&R Liquor on East 23rd Street begin to shuffle away.
Penney is among about 40 officers who normally don casual clothes and tactical vests as part of a specialized unit.
But for now, he is patrolling the East Lake area in a blue police uniform along with dozens of other officers normally assigned to specialized duty in narcotics, vice, crime suppression, fraud, property crimes and homicide units.