Covington County, Alabama
Covington County · Andalusia · the Florida-line seat sits here · Opp is not the hall
Andalusia is the seat. Opp is the other city, not the hall.
Covington County, Alabama, was established December 1821 and named for Brigadier General Leonard Covington. Andalusia is the seat. Andalusia is also the largest city (8,805 in 2020). Opp is the other city. Opp is not the county government. Florala is not the county government. This is not Covington County, Mississippi. This is not Covington Parish, Louisiana. Montgomery is the capital of Alabama. It does not sit here.
Places include Andalusia, Opp, Florala, Red Level, Gantt, River Falls, Sanford, Babbie, Carolina, Heath, Horn Hill, and Libertyville. 2020 census: 37,570. This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Florida-line and forest patrol and the Hillcrest detention house — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Covington County.
A chairman plus four. They do not sit in Opp City Hall.
Covington is a five-member County Commission: a chairman and four commissioners. Each commissioner represents one of four geographic districts; all members, including the chairman, are elected countywide (covingtoncountyal.gov). They fund roads, the Beaux-Arts courthouse on Court Square, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Opp City Council is a city body. Andalusia City Council is a city body. Florala’s town government is a town body.
The Sheriff is four years, Article V § 138, 2026 with the Governor. Take office 18 January 2027. The Mayor of Opp is a city clock.
The Florida line and Conecuh National Forest sit here. This is not Covington County, Mississippi.
U.S. 29, U.S. 84, and U.S. 331 are the through roads. The Conecuh River and the Yellow River drain the map. Conecuh National Forest covers a large southern tract. Florala sits on the Alabama–Florida line (Lake Jackson). Butler and Crenshaw are north. Coffee and Geneva are east. Walton and Okaloosa counties, Florida, are south. Escambia and Conecuh are west. Staff who paste an Opp mill skyline onto Court Square, or file “Covington County, Mississippi,” or treat Florala as a Florida hall, are on the wrong county.
How an Andalusia public finds the Covington desk
The courthouse sits at 1 North Court Square, Andalusia, AL 36420 (Beaux-Arts, 1914–1916, National Register). Circuit Clerk / Absentee Election Manager: 1-K North Court Square (sos.alabama.gov city-county lookup). Probate: 1K North Court Square. Commission: 260 Hillcrest Drive. Sheriff: the SOS lists 290 Hillcrest Drive; the county directory lists Sheriff Department at 260 Hillcrest Drive — same Hillcrest campus. Jail: 290 Hillcrest Drive, Andalusia, AL 36420. Confirm live addresses on those doors. A student who only knows an Opp photograph has not found Court Square.
Hillcrest Drive still jails. Opp PD does not.
Crime in unincorporated Covington — Red Level, Gantt, the forest roads toward Florala, the pine between Andalusia and Opp — is this Sheriff. Crime in Andalusia is often Andalusia Police. Crime in Opp is often Opp Police. The Covington County Jail at 290 Hillcrest Drive is this Sheriff’s house. The Commission’s own minutes treat jail repairs as a county house this Sheriff runs. A historic 1916 jail behind the courthouse is on the National Register with the 1916 courthouse — it is not a substitute for the live Hillcrest booking address. Ala. Code § 14-6-1 puts the jail on this Sheriff. ALEA is the state. Civil process and court security at Court Square are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at the Florida line. Remedy for Opp Police is the City. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when the Conecuh comes up is this count first.
Care without inventing a forest chapel as this county
A peace order served in Red Level. A transport from 290 Hillcrest Drive to 1-K North Court Square without becoming Opp Police. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a national forest as this badge.
What a Florida-line county actually watches
Court calendar on Court Square. A wreck on U.S. 84. A rise on the Conecuh. A forest-fire night toward Florala. Coordination with Andalusia Police, Opp Police, and ALEA without becoming those departments. Coordination with a Walton County, Florida, sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger.
Andalusia snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Andalusia · Largest city: Andalusia · Other city: Opp · Capital of Alabama: Montgomery
- Government: chairman plus four, districts, elected countywide · courthouse 1 North Court Square
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · patrol and detention at 290 Hillcrest Drive
- Neighbors: Butler · Crenshaw · Coffee · Geneva · Escambia · Conecuh · Walton (FL) · Okaloosa (FL)
- Not Opp as the hall · Not Florala as the hall · Not Covington County, Mississippi / Louisiana
What Andalusia is not, as this county
- Not Opp as the county government. Not Florala as the county government.
- Not Covington County, Mississippi. Not Covington Parish, Louisiana. Not Florida. Not the capital.
- Not Opp Police as this Sheriff. Not a forest postcard as the hall.
- Not a campaign flyer.