10/03/2026
๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฃ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ต๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐.
There has been a lot of confusion over the last couple of days about Sheffield bringing our police dispatch operation back in-house.
So let me start with the most important thing:
๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฌ, ๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ญ๐ญ.
๐ต๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ.
You do not need to stop during an emergency and try to remember a 10-digit telephone number.
You have not lost access to 911.
Sheffield Police has not lost dispatch service.
And Sheffield Police will absolutely still respond to emergency calls made to 911.
๐ก๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ.
What ๐ต๐ฎ๐ changed is that, as of last Tuesday, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต.
And I believe that's a very good thing for Sheffield.
For many years, Sheffield operated its own police dispatch. Many longtime residents will remember ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฏ-๐ญ๐ณ๐ณ๐ญ as the number to call Sheffield Police directly.
Years ago, that dispatch operation was transferred to Colbert County EMA/911. From that point forward, Sheffield no longer controlled its own police dispatch operation, and citizens lost the ability to call Sheffield Police dispatch directly.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.
And here's something that has gotten completely lost in all of the noise:
๐ช๐ ๐๐๐๐ก'๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐๐ฌ. ๐ช๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ข๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐.
You can still call ๐ต๐ญ๐ญ in an emergency, just as you always have.
But now you can also call ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฏ-๐ญ๐ณ๐ณ๐ญ and reach S๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐น๐.
That number can be used when you need police assistance, ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐, or for matters that require an officer but don't necessarily require a 911 call.
And for routine Police Department business - reports, jail information, administrative questions and similar matters - the SPD administrative number remains ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฒ-๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฌ.
So this change did not give Sheffield citizens ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด access to their Police Department.
๐๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ.
---
๐ช๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
There are several reasons.
First, ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น.
Our dispatchers are now working directly with our officers as part of the Sheffield Police operation.
The Police Department controls its own dispatch system, its own technology and its own day-to-day operation.
When someone calls ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฏ-๐ญ๐ณ๐ณ๐ญ, they are reaching ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐น๐.
There is no outside dispatch layer between that citizen and the Sheffield Police Department.
That's how Sheffield operated for years, and now we've restored it with modern technology.
Second, ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ.
The City of Sheffield has been paying approximately $๐ฎ๐ญ๐ด,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ for outside police dispatch service.
Our new in-house operation will cost ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐ณ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ.
That's more than $100,000 a year that can remain in Sheffield instead of being spent for a service we can provide ourselves while also gaining greater operational control.
๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น. ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐. ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐
๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
That's a pretty easy decision for me.
---
I understand why some people became concerned after seeing statements that Colbert County EMA/911 would โno longer dispatch Sheffield Police.โ
Read by itself, that sounds alarming.
But it leaves out the most important part of the story:
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป'๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ.
We didn't eliminate police dispatch.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.
We planned for the transition. We invested in the technology necessary to do it. We completed the transition before our previous agreement expired, and Sheffield's in-house police dispatch operation is now up and running.
So let's make this as simple as possible:
๐จ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฌ?
๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ญ๐ญ.
๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฌ?
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฏ-๐ญ๐ณ๐ณ๐ญ.
๐ข ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐ฆ, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฆ?
๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ-๐ฏ๐ด๐ฒ-๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฌ.
That's it. Simple.
๐ต๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ป'๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐ - ๐๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ.
And after years of having our police dispatch handled outside the City, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ - ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ.
