Butler’s transition away from having a police desk sergeant has gone fairly smoothly in its first month.

“Nothing major has happened,” said Deputy Chief David Adam. “There have been a few issues as you would expect.”

The city moved its desk sergeants to patrolling the streets on Aug. 3, handing over dispatching duties to the Butler County Emergency Services.

The move meant residents cannot walk inside the West New Castle Street station to speak with an officer directly.

“If you have a police-related issue, you have to call 911,” Adam said. “I can’t stress that enough.”

The change took a while for residents to get used to.

While there is a sign on the door telling residents of the change, there was some confusion during the first couple weeks of the switch.

“It was a problem,” Adam said, referencing a number of people walking to the station to speak with an officer. “But people are slowly and surely getting used to it.”

Residents can press the call button outside the police station to reach 911.

Adam said the department has worked closely with the 911 center to work out any problems.

“They’ve been great to work with,” he said.

Adam said city police previously handled about 1,000 calls per month, although the desk sergeant was able to handle many of those calls over the phone.

“We get everything from gun calls to reports of cats in trees,” he said.

The elimination of the desk sergeant could save the city some money with overtime costs, but that was not the primary motivation for the change.

“We want more boots on the streets,” Adam said.

The department has 23 officers. It typically has 3 to 5 officers on duty at a time.