Prichard Prepares to Place Remaining Officers on Paid Leave During Full Police Review

Prichard Mayor Carletta Davis says the roughly 15 people still with the Prichard Police Department will soon be placed on 30 days of paid administrative leave while the city carries out a comprehensive administrative review of the agency, correcting earlier reports that the entire department had already been removed from duty.

Davis said officers were told about the plan during a departmental meeting this week, and that the exact timing depends on following personnel board rules. The public, she said, will be notified when the leave begins. Her remarks represent the most detailed public explanation to date of the city’s plan for the remaining officers.

“We are going to do everything by the book,” Davis said.

What the Review Will Examine

The city has agreed to pay a consulting firm up to $50,000 to help evaluate the department and establish professional standards. Davis said the review will look at personnel files, training records, use-of-force records, character and integrity concerns, and national accreditation standards.

“We’re going to work the process and give everyone the same assessment and do a fair process,” Davis said. “I have no expectations on how many will come back and how many won’t come back.”

The paid-leave step is part of a broader effort to rebuild a police department that has come under state and federal investigation, a situation that prompted Mobile County to step in and provide patrol and dispatch services in the interim. Reviews of this scope typically take longer than 30 days, and Davis’s plan is likely to leave the question of when officers return to duty unsettled beyond the initial leave window.

Negotiations With the Sheriff’s Office Continue

At the same time, the city is negotiating with Mobile County over a funding agreement that would allow the sheriff’s office to continue providing patrol and dispatch services during the transition. Davis said officers could be put on leave before September 4 — the date Sheriff Paul Burch has said his office will end Prichard patrol and dispatch services without a funding agreement in place — and she does not expect any lapse in law-enforcement service.

“There is not going to be any lapse in service, and the community will be safe,” Davis said.

Davis and Burch met Wednesday morning, and the sheriff described the talks as positive. Burch said he could extend the September 4 deadline if a contract is close to being finalized.

“If it’s something where I know the holdup is just some legal language that the lawyers all need to get, then I don’t mind extending a little bit longer if that’s what it takes, knowing that the contract will be signed,” Burch said. “I’m not going to just leave everybody hanging.”

Burch said his office was asked to provide services after the Prichard Police Department came under state and federal investigation. He said deputies will continue to respond to emergencies, but that the office cannot sustain the current level of service without a contract.

“My message to the public and especially to the citizens of Prichard, we cannot financially sustain what we’re doing right now without funding from a contract that allows me to hire more deputies to work Prichard,” Burch said.

Council Members Push for a Transition Plan

Not everyone at City Hall is satisfied with how the process has unfolded. City council members Traci Hale, Stephani Norwood and Annie Williams issued a joint statement criticizing the mayor’s plan and how it was communicated, saying they were not informed before the administration decided to place officers on leave.

“A decision of this magnitude — one that directly affects police protection for thousands of Prichard residents — should not occur without a clear and coordinated public-safety plan,” the council members said. They added that residents deserve a clear timeline for the review and a transparent process for deciding which officers return to duty.

As the review moves forward, city leaders face a fast-approaching September 4 deadline to secure continued sheriff coverage, and the outcome of the administrative review will determine how many of the department’s remaining officers return to duty once their 30-day leave ends.

For residents, the practical stakes are simple: they want to know who will answer a 911 call, who will patrol their neighborhoods, and how the city intends to rebuild a police department that has been in slow-motion collapse for most of the year. The next two weeks are likely to answer at least some of those questions, and city officials on both sides of the dispute have signaled they are willing to keep talking until they do.

How Reviews Typically End

Administrative reviews of police departments typically conclude with a written report that recommends which officers should be retained, which should receive additional training, and which should be separated. Cities often use the report to apply for state accreditation, to renegotiate insurance and benefits, and to set new hiring standards. Davis has not said whether the upcoming Prichard review will lead to accreditation, but council members have asked for the report to be made public once it is complete.

What Residents Should Expect

For residents, the practical question is who answers a 911 call and how quickly. Sheriff’s deputies have been handling calls in Prichard for months and are expected to continue doing so during the leave, regardless of whether a new contract with the city is finalized by Sept. 4. City officials on both sides have urged residents to keep reporting emergencies and to use non-emergency lines for routine concerns, with response times expected to remain comparable to what they have been during the temporary arrangement.

How Other Cities Have Used Outside Reviews

Other Alabama cities that have brought in outside consultants for police reviews have typically released the resulting reports to the public, with redactions to protect officer privacy. Those reports have become road maps for changes in training, supervision and accreditation, and they have sometimes led to formal consent decrees that lock in reforms over several years. Whether the Prichard review follows that pattern will depend on the consultant’s findings and on the city council’s appetite for transparency.

How Transparency Could Shape the Outcome

Council members have asked the Davis team to commit to making the consultant’s final report public, with appropriate redactions to protect officer privacy. They have also asked for regular updates on the review’s progress, on the status of any officers returning to duty, and on the city’s negotiations with the sheriff’s office. Whether the administration agrees to those asks will help determine whether the next two weeks produce a durable agreement or another standoff between the mayor and the council.

How Funding Will Shape the Final Outcome

Even after the administrative review concludes, the city will still need to find a way to pay for whatever law-enforcement arrangement comes next. A fully staffed Prichard Police Department would require significant investment in salaries, training, equipment and benefits, and the city’s general fund may not be able to support that on its own. A continued partnership with the sheriff’s office would require a sustained funding commitment that the council and the mayor have to agree on, and that commitment would have to be reflected in the city’s budget. Until those funding questions are answered, the long-term future of policing in Prichard will remain uncertain.

How the Public Can Stay Engaged

Residents who want to stay informed about the review, the sheriff’s office negotiations, and the broader public-safety discussion in Prichard can attend council meetings in person, watch meetings streamed online, and follow local news coverage of the city. Council meetings are held at City Hall, and agendas are posted in advance on the city’s website. Public comment periods at the end of each meeting give residents a chance to weigh in directly, and several council members have said they want to hear from constituents before any major decisions are made about the future of the police department.

How Other Cities Have Funded Similar Reviews

Cities that have paid outside consultants to review their police departments have typically done so through their general funds or through dedicated public-safety line items. Some have used asset-forfeiture funds, while others have turned to state or federal grants. The $50,000 cap that Prichard has set for the consultant is on the lower end of what similar reviews have cost elsewhere, but the scope of Prichard’s review is also more focused than some larger, more comprehensive reviews that other cities have undertaken. Council members have asked for a clear accounting of how those dollars are being spent and what the city gets in return.

What the Next Two Weeks Will Determine

The next two weeks are likely to be the most consequential stretch of the year for public safety in Prichard. The Sept. 4 deadline for the sheriff’s office funding agreement, the start of the administrative leave, and the ongoing negotiations over the city’s long-term policing plan will all come into sharper focus. Whatever the council and the mayor’s office agree on during that stretch will shape the future of policing in Prichard for the rest of the year and likely well beyond, and residents will be watching closely to see whether the two branches of city government can find a way to work together.

In a statement posted to her official Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, Davis sought to tamp down reports that the department had already been sidelined. “Yesterday, I met with members of the Prichard Police Department to speak directly with them about the future of public safety in our city. As part of our next phase, officers will soon be placed on leave while the city begins a comprehensive administrative review and rebuilding process,” Davis wrote. “I informed our officers that they will receive additional information regarding next steps in the coming week.”

The mayor wrote that she met with Sheriff Paul Burch on Wednesday morning and shared with him her commitment to rebuilding the Prichard Police Department and her plan to contract with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office for interim law enforcement services. An intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Mobile County Commission is in the works, according to Davis.

Davis also said the city’s consulting team from POLIHIRE will include current Prichard officers in its review of the department and in the search for a new police chief. “I want to be very clear: the city of Prichard is rebuilding its police department. We are not abandoning it,” she wrote. “Our goal is to build a professional, accountable, well-trained and properly supported police department that our officers can be proud to serve in and our citizens can trust.”

Neither Davis nor her chief of staff, Julia Samuels, immediately responded to requests for comment on the current employment status of the department’s officers, how the leave plan became confused in earlier reports, or whether officers will be paid while on leave.