Hoping to speed police officer response to emergency calls, officials in Ardmore, Alabama, and Ardmore, Tennessee, will begin using Athens-Limestone County E-911 to dispatch requests for service.

During a joint session of the two town councils Monday, officials approved a contract to spend between $75,000 and $80,000 a year to hire Athens-Limestone E-911 to dispatch emergency calls to the Police Department that covers territory in both towns.

The change will occur within the next six months, said Athens-Limestone E-911 Director Brandon Wallace, who has been E-911 director since August.

Until then, residents in the two towns — which straddle the Alabama-Tennessee line — can continue to call the Police Department or 911 for service.

Why change?

Currently, Ardmore police officers are dispatched to calls by a dispatcher at Ardmore Police Department in Alabama. If a person calls 911, the call must be transferred to the police dispatcher who then dispatches an officer, Wallace said.

Under the change, all calls to and for Ardmore police will be dispatched by E-911 dispatchers straight to the officers, he said.

The change was made not so much to save money but to improve police response, Wallace said.

“Hopefully we will be able to dispatch faster and more efficiently — we have a lot of resources here,” he said. “We hope to be able to speed up response and better serve the residents of Ardmore.”

Wallace said the change would also improve communication around nonemergency events, ensuring efficient and effective response to these events.

“The result is improved safety and peace-of-mind for public safety personnel and the community they serve,” he said .

Athens-Limestone County E-911 Chief Executive Officer R.V. White said 911 personnel “look forward to working with the towns of Ardmore, Alabama, and Ardmore, Tennessee, in a joint effort to provide the best-possible response to an emergency for the citizens’ of both towns.”

Considering for years

Wallace said E-911 was approached two or three years ago about the possibility of taking over dispatching duties for the towns’ Police Department.

“We are glad to help out where we can,” he said.

The E-911 office on Elm Street in Athens has 21 full-time employees, including three full-time dispatchers on each shift, Wallace said.

“We will probably ramp that up to four (on each shift) once we start dispatching for Ardmore,” he said. “We may have one person kind of reserved to handle those calls.”

Even after the change, Ardmore Police Department will still retain an administrative person at the office to enter data into the CAD (computer-aided dispatch computer software).” Wallace said.

Athens-Limestone E-911 already handles dispatching for all of Limestone’s volunteer fire departments and for Athens Fire & Rescue.

The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office has its own dispatchers as does Athens Police Department. When an Athens or Limestone County resident calls 911 for help from a deputy or police officer, a 911 dispatcher transfers the call to the respective dispatchers.

Wallace said the Athens-Limestone County Emergency Communication District Board of Commissioners will vote on the proposed contract Friday. Attorneys will review the contract before implementation can begin, he said.