PRICHARD, Ala. — The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office will stop providing “municipal-level” patrol and dispatch services in Prichard at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, Sheriff Paul Burch announced in a news release.
The sheriff’s office took over law enforcement operations inside the city on June 16 at the direction of the Mobile County District Attorney, after Prichard’s police department was left severely short-staffed by corruption arrests. Since then, deputies, dispatchers and support staff have been handling duties normally performed by a city police department, drawing on county personnel, vehicles and overtime.
One-Week Extension After Council Meeting
Burch said the arrangement cannot continue indefinitely without a contract, a defined timeline or a sustainable plan. The sheriff’s office had already warned city representatives that municipal-level service would end after a two-week transition period. After Mayor Carletta Davis told Thursday night’s City Council meeting that she expected a contract to be in place within a week, Burch agreed to extend patrol and dispatch operations one additional week, through Sept. 4.
“For nearly 10 weeks, our deputies, dispatchers and staff have stepped in to ensure the citizens of Prichard continued to receive law enforcement services during an extremely difficult period,” Burch said. “This extension is being made in good faith and out of concern for the citizens of Prichard. It is not intended to pressure the Mayor or City Council as they determine the future of their police department.”
But, the sheriff added, “my responsibility, however, extends to all of Mobile County, and I cannot continue diverting deputies and resources from the rest of the County without knowing how long this arrangement will continue or how it will be funded.”
Once the services end, the sheriff’s office will still provide crime scene and major crimes assistance when requested by the District Attorney’s Office, consistent with its countywide investigative role.
Burch said MCSO remains willing to take part in good-faith discussions with the City of Prichard and the Mobile County Commission on both the immediate transition and a long-term plan for policing the city.
The Price Tag: $2.2 Million a Year, at Minimum
Mayor Carletta Davis laid out the cost problem for the council. She said the sheriff’s office initially quoted $4.7 million to cover cruisers, precinct setup and related startup needs — with roughly $2.2 million of that being an annual personnel expense the city would carry every year.
“Even a $2.2 million a year contract is out of our budget,” Davis told the council, noting that paying for sheriff’s coverage while simultaneously rebuilding a city force would be difficult given Prichard’s tight finances. She said discussions had turned to ways to reduce costs, including hiring new deputies to cut down on expensive overtime, and expressed hope that a contract could be finalized within the week.
What the Takeover Is Costing the County
Burch said policing Prichard initially cost his office about $18,000 per day; that figure has since fallen to roughly $6,000 a day, with about a third of the MCSO’s calls for service now coming from the city. Final contract numbers, he said, would be negotiated between the city and the Mobile County Commission.
“My point in setting this deadline is our resources are stretched so thin,” Burch said. “We just could not continue the level of service we’re providing for much longer without me being able to hire additional deputies.”
Evidence Backlog and Grant Dispute
Since taking over, the sheriff’s office has collected and logged more than 18,000 items of evidence and property from the old Prichard Police Department, according to Burch. More than 3,400 of those items lacked documentation connecting them to specific cases. He expects the inventory effort to wrap up within about a month.
A dispute has also surfaced over a $115,000 state grant announced last week. The governor’s office said the money would support a task force targeting gun violence and gang activity in Prichard, but an MCSO spokesperson said Monday that the grant was actually applied for earlier to cover overtime tied to cataloging the department’s seized evidence and property.
A Long Road to Rebuilding
A grand jury has recommended that Prichard abolish its current police department and rebuild from scratch; city leaders have been weighing that against overhauling what remains of the existing force. Several officers have been arrested in the ongoing corruption investigation, including former Chief Walter Knight, and Burch said more indictments remain possible.
Burch cautioned that rebuilding will take far longer than city officials may expect. “Until they address pay, retirement, those kind of things, I think it’s going to be a long time before they can rebuild a functioning police department,” he said, adding that qualified recruits are unlikely to come for current pay with no path into a retirement system. Whatever path the city chooses, he estimated it would take a couple of years to put a new department on solid footing.