NATCHEZ — Natchez and Adams County will switch to a new emergency 911-call system this morning that officials say will provide greater flexibility and better response time for emergency responders.

The switch to the new $230,000 system by Emergency Callworks will happen at 10 a.m.

Under the pre-10 a.m. system, all 911 calls are routed through the Natchez Police Department dispatch office, and calls originating outside the city limits are transferred to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials with the 911 board have in the past said the transfer adds logistical problems — for example, calls stop recording after they are transferred and if the call is dropped the ACSO dispatcher doesn’t know where it originated. Officials said the phone at transfer also adds unnecessary delays to responding to emergencies.

The new system has shared software between the jurisdictions that allows dispatchers to select a button that will transfer to the correct office and continue recording calls. Calls from landlines are automatically directed to the correct jurisdiction.

“The police department and sheriff’s office computers can talk to each other when taking 911 calls, and both have the same monitors so they can see what is going on,” Adams County Emergency Management Director Robert Bradford said. “There won’t be any data lost in the transfer, and it takes a thorough log if you drop a call.”

The switch is the first of two phases, Bradford said, the second of which will be getting cell phone calls routed to dispatchers based on cell tower locations and emergency service numbers in the county.

The new system is an apparent compromise between the jurisdictions. When the E911 board and Bradford met with officials with the ACSO and NPD to discuss consolidating dispatch services for the single-city county, the police and sheriff’s office representatives balked at the idea of giving up the control of their dispatchers to a central authority.

“This is the closest you can get to consolidation,” Bradford said. “The system allows both (jurisdictions) to have the same capabilities but in different locations. It is like you are in the same house in different rooms.”

Bradford said dispatchers from both departments were trained on the new system earlier in the week.