Alabama Police Jurisdictions

How Alabama Police Jurisdictions Work

Alabama Police Jurisdiction Boundary, Shapefile and Map

Alabama Police jurisdictions play an essential role in their sales and use taxes. Municipalities (also known as “incorporated cities”) that provide services such as police and fire protection can, in their police jurisdictions,  collect sales taxes at up to one-half the rate they collect on general sales within the geographic boundaries of their municipality.

What are the geographic boundaries of police jurisdictions?

According to Alabama Code Title 11. Counties and Municipal Corporations § 11-40-10 (https://codes.findlaw.com/al/title-11-counties-and-municipal-corporations/al-code-sect-11-40-10.html):

(a)(1) The police jurisdiction in municipalities having 6,000 or more inhabitants shall cover all adjoining territory within three miles of the corporate limits, and in municipalities having less than 6,000 inhabitants and in towns, the police jurisdiction shall extend also to the adjoining territory within a mile and a half of the corporate limits of the municipality or town.

USgeocoder developed Alabama Police Jurisdiction Shapefile and boundary map

As of April 22, 2021, there are 460 municipalities in Alabama with over 300 municipalities collecting sales taxes in their police jurisdictions. As part of the effort to correctly calculate Alabama’s sales tax, USgeocoder developed the shapefile and created its own boundary map for Alabama police jurisdictions using the guideline quoted above.

The following map displays the Alabama Police Jurisdictions for the police jurisdictions in each incorporated city. USgeocoder refers to the colored areas that surround each incorporated city as “Rings”. A ring is part of the police jurisdiction for the municipality it encompasses.

Referencing the image above, if you input an address found on the Police Jurisdiction map, you can determine if the address is in a police jurisdiction and which jurisdiction it is in.

Lookup Alabama Police Jurisdiction by address

Let’s zoom in and look at a particular address:

7730 WUTHERING HEIGHTS LN, DUNCANVILLE, AL 35456-1933

Lat: 33.135094969122
Lon: -87.492268151383

This address is in an un-incorporated area within Tuscaloosa County.

The map below marks the address at “+” in the purple area. The purple area surrounding the City of Tuscaloosa is its police jurisdiction. So, the map shows the this address is located within the police jurisdiction of Tuscaloosa.

To lookup police jurisdiction for a particular address in Alabama, you can enter the address and its 5 digit zip code on USgeocoder’s live demo: https://usgeocoder.com/api_live_demo. If the address is in a police jurisdiction that collects sales tax, you will find out the name of the police jurisdiction and its sales tax rate for general tangible items.

Do you have a custom project for Alabama Police Jurisdictions? Call USgeocoder at (888) 938-6732 or contact USgeocoder online.