Residents describe failed 911 responses as Phillips County seeks partnerships

Phillips County residents told of emergency calls that ended with no one arriving, and the Quorum Court voted to let the county judge explore partnerships with neighboring counties as pressure grows over how 911 service is delivered in Elaine, Helena-West Helena and across the county.

The dispute has centered in Elaine, where Mayor Lisa Hicks Gilbert said Phillips County cut the city police department off from county dispatch after a year-long breakdown that followed a 911 call about an unresponsive elderly woman. Gilbert said no emergency services were sent and the woman died. She also said the county later proposed an interlocal agreement that would have required Elaine to pay $6,000 a year for county dispatching of law enforcement, fire, EMS and other emergency services.

Gilbert said the agreement had not been presented to the Phillips County Quorum Court for approval when the county ended Elaine police access while the city council was still reviewing it. The county said it would continue to accept 911 calls from Elaine residents, but the practical meaning of that arrangement remained unclear for people trying to get help in an emergency.

The fight is unfolding as Arkansas continues a statewide effort to consolidate dispatch operations under the Public Safety Act of 2019. The Arkansas 911 Board said dispatch centers were supposed to drop from 114 to 79 by Jan. 1, 2025. In its March 15, 2025 legislative report, the board said there were 88 operational PSAPs and set a target of 82, while local jurisdictions were saving about $1.8 million a year, or roughly $23,000 per PSAP, through statewide ESInet network cost coverage.

For Phillips County, the question is not just efficiency but whether the system answers when people call. The Phillips County Sheriff's Office lists 911 as its emergency contact number and 870-338-5555 as the non-emergency line, underscoring how much residents still rely on county dispatch as the first point of contact in a crisis. The sheriff’s office identifies Phillips County as having been formed on May 1, 1820.

Resident Billy Williams warned that Elaine’s low crime rate depends on community resources and said losing them could make public safety worse. As the county looks at new partnerships, officials now face the harder task of showing exactly who will answer, how fast they will respond and what will happen if the next emergency call goes unanswered.