Taking over law enforcement duties in Prichard has strained resources across the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, and one group of employees who rarely get public attention is feeling it the most — the dispatchers who answer the phones.
Since June 16, Mobile County sheriff’s deputies have responded to more than 2,400 calls from Prichard residents and businesses, roughly a third of all calls now coming into the Sheriff’s Office. Every one of those calls, whether routed through 911 or placed directly as a non-emergency call, lands with a Sheriff’s Office dispatcher.
Already Short-Staffed Before Prichard
Sheriff Paul Burch said the department ideally should employ 20 dispatchers, four supervisors and an administrator. Instead, the agency is budgeted for just 16 positions total, a number that includes the supervisors and does not include an administrator at all — and that was before Prichard calls were added to the workload.
“That is a hard position to fill because it’s an extremely stressful, you know, position,” Burch said.
How the Sheriff’s Office Ended Up in Prichard
The Sheriff’s Office took over law enforcement responsibilities in Prichard at the request of the district attorney following the arrest of former officer Emanuel Dotch II on corruption charges. Dotch is one of a string of Prichard officers — including the city’s police chief — who have faced criminal charges in recent months.
Burch said he has managed the extra patrol workload by creating a dedicated squad for the city, pulling deputies from other units to cover it. Dispatching, he said, has been a tougher problem to solve.
“Their training is a specialty … type (of) training,” Burch said. “And, you know, you can’t just put anybody in that position. They have to take calls from citizens, calls transferred from 911, and conduct radio traffic with deputies.”
Mandatory Overtime and a Return to the Console
Normally, about four dispatchers are on duty at any given time. Burch said he has had to add extra staff to every shift and has leaned on mandatory overtime to keep the center covered. He even pulled a former dispatcher who had transferred to the agency’s intelligence unit back to dispatch duty.
“We’ve kind of nudged her back over to dispatching,” Burch said.
Burch said only one or two dispatchers were working for the Prichard Police Department when his agency took over responsibility for the city, and even those employees are not an option to help fill the gap.
“I don’t know what their status is,” he said. “I’ll just say they’re not employable to the Sheriff’s Office.”
‘Not Sustainable,’ Sheriff Says
Burch has repeatedly described the current arrangement as unsustainable, and he reiterated that stance again this week, saying he expects the situation to be resolved within a matter of weeks rather than months.
Burch said he met this week with Prichard Mayor Carletta Davis and members of her staff, along with staffers from the Mobile County Commission, calling it a productive meeting and saying he is confident a plan will emerge soon. A Prichard spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions.
Davis has not yet acted on a recommendation from a Mobile County grand jury to dissolve the Prichard Police Department entirely and build a new agency from scratch. Burch questioned whether the city has much choice in the matter.
“I do believe there’s gonna to be several additional arrests of police officers,” he said. “So I don’t know that there’s gonna be much of a police department left when all that’s said and done.”