Andrews police in charge of round-the-clock patrols

    Andrews – After nearly two years of helping police the streets in town around the clock, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office will no longer respond to non-emergency calls that originate within the city limits.
    “It’s time to push the baby bird out of the nest and let them fly,” Sheriff Derrick Palmer said while explaining his decision. “We will respond to emergency calls when someone is in danger.
    “But when they have non-emergency calls, such as a burglary that occurred days ago and they just learned about it or anything that is a non-priority call, we’re going to let that wait until the next morning, when one of the Andrews officers arrive on duty to answer it.”
    Palmer made the decision last week after a miscommunication between sheriff’s personnel and Andrews officials regarding overnight coverage. The dispute has since been resolved, but essentially the two parties agreed that Andrews police must schedule their staff to cover the city 24 hours a day.
    “I have put the sheriff through a lot since December 2017, and at some point anyone would get frustrated and say, ‘Enough is enough, stand on your own two feet,’ ” Mayor James Reid said. “I think the sheriff is at that point now.”
    Palmer’s decision, which he announced in a letter sent to city and county lawmakers, prompted some local leaders to accuse the sheriff of “willfully neglecting” his duties. However, the situation is not that black and white.
    “That’s totally within his discretion,” District Attorney Ashley Welch said when asked if a sheriff could lawfully choose to avoid non-emergency calls. “A lot of a sheriff’s powers are
discretionary.”
    Andrews lawmakers expressed gratitude for the help provided by the sheriff’s office and said they do not anticipate a lapse in overnight police coverage to happen again. In fact, town officials recently hired 28-year-old Jacob Phillips from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office to be a full-time Andrews officer, and Palmer has allowed Phillips to work under his authority as a deputy until he is certified under the criminal justice standards.
    “We’re continuing to work together, but we’re all going through learning pains that we’ve never experienced before, which is a good thing,” Reid said. “We have plenty of officers, we just have to figure out how to make it all work. At the end of the day, I will always support my chief and police.”