Having two separate law enforcement agencies in Adams County is inefficient.

We have long said — and continue to believe — our community would be safer if the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and Natchez Police Department were joined.

A string of unsolved recent convenience store robberies points to one of the problems of having separate agencies — uncoordinated investigations.

One of the four robberies was located in the unincorporated part of Adams County while three more were within the Natchez city limits.

Late last week neither the city nor county agency apparently had talked with one another about similar cases of convenience store robberies.

That seems baffling to us.

The descriptions of the suspects from three of the crimes seem to match, but yet apparently two distinctly different investigations are going on to find the culprit.

Combining city and county law enforcement forces into one, unified force almost certainly will save some taxpayer money, which is good.

But more important are the quality of the personnel that should improve under a unified approach and the improved efficiency of investigations such as the ongoing work to find the convenience store robber.

We strongly urge city and county leaders to put politics aside, use common sense and put public safety first in working quickly to merge these agencies into one.