CASTLEBERRY, Alabama -- In a small Conecuh County town, residents are trying to figure out why the city's police department has not been sent to respond to emergency calls for nearly two weeks.
"A lot of the citizens think there's no 911 coverage, and there is 911 coverage," said Castleberry Police Chief Tracy Hawsey. "I just want the people to know they are safe because their 911 system is in place and working for them."
Hawsey has been working to assure locals of their safety since July 3, when the Castleberry Police Department inexplicably stopped getting sent to investigate crimes in the community of approximately 580 residents.
As of mid-July, Hawsey is the only member of the Castleberry Police Department, although he said there are plans to add a part-time officer in the coming weeks. He hopes to have the department bulked up with additional members by the end of the year.
On July 3, Hawsey radioed in to say he was on duty. He was told by a dispatcher that the Conecuh County Sheriff's Office would no longer be sending his small police station on calls, a practice that has been in place for years and continues for the neighboring town of Repton.
It is the second time the Conecuh County Sheriff's Office and Castleberry have come into conflict over dispatching issues in recent years.
When a person in Castleberry calls 911, the emergency dispatcher who answers the phone sends it to the Conecuh County Sheriff's Office. Before July 3, the call would be forwarded to the Castleberry Police Department for response.
However, Hawsey said that chain of communication has been broken and the Sheriff's Office is now dispatching its deputies, leaving the police out of the loop.
In 2006 Hawsey, then sheriff, cut off dispatch services in Castleberry citing a lack of communication and the abundant resources officers were allegedly using, according to Press-Register archives. The city of Evergreen stepped in to fill the gap in service until current Sheriff Edwin Booker was sworn into office following Hawsey's resignation less than one month later.
At that time, Hawsey gave town officials some notice before telling them the Sheriff's Office would no longer forward Castleberry emergency calls to the Police Department. Booker gave the town none, according to Hawsey.
Booker could not be reached for comment.
"If anything, give us 30 days, so we have time to set something up, or at least send us a letter," Hawsey said.
Castleberry Mayor J.B. Jackson will appear at an Enhanced 911 Board meeting on July 22 to request the Police Department be added to the list to which 911 operators dispatch.
The change will take effect immediately, said Conecuh County Emergency Management Agency Director Johnny Brock.
"All the people out there without police dispatch -- it's bad," Jackson said.
Jackson said Castleberry has not had to pay for 911 services, although it will have to once the E911 Board approves of the municipality's inclusion on the dispatch list. It will cost the town $250 per month.
In the meantime, problems have already surfaced because of the lack of a police presence in the town.
Last week, the Conecuh County Sheriff's Office responded to a domestic violence call in Castleberry, Hawsey said. When law enforcement officials arrived, they discovered the back window of a truck had been smashed. Inside the truck bed was a broken rifle, Hawsey said.
It took Conecuh County deputies approximately 20 minutes to make the journey to the home. Hawsey, who was notified of the call after a resident called City Hall to report the crime, was within a quarter mile of the home and could have arrived sooner if he had been dispatched, he said.
"You never know when a call can escalate from a one to a 10. We may be sitting 30 yards from the house, but we won't know it," Hawsey said. "Our little town has been hung out to dry."
Hawsey said Brock and the E911 Board have been helpful through the process of adding the Police Department to the dispatch list.
It's expected the department will be back in service after the E911 Board meeting on July 22.
It's unclear what caused the abrupt rift between the Castleberry Police Department and the Conecuh County Sheriff's Office.
In 2006, Hawsey lost a reelection campaign to Booker after spending approximately eight years as sheriff. Booker had previously served as Conecuh County sheriff from 1974 to 1994, according to Press-Register archives.
Updated on July 16 at 12:30 p.m. with additional information on the size of the Castleberry Police Department.