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Crime Reduction
My team and I will implement procedures and methods to impact high crime areas. We will partner with every police department, mayor, city council person and others to assist in every proactive approach possible. We will work alongside every citizen to improve neighborhoods and our overall quality of life. There will be no communities in our county that we will stay out of.
We will start the proactive approach of partnering with great programs like Boys 2 Men and other community minded programs around the county that focus on uplifting and encouraging our kids before the gangs and negatives of society do. This proactive engagement will not only introduce these kids to law enforcement in a positive setting but will also show them we have a lot more in common than they may have thought. Working to help promote, fundraise and facilitate these programs is a must to motivate and empower our future generations of respectful and productive citizens!
We will bring back Community Crime Watch Programs that currently don’t exist. We will have a coordinator that will conduct county wide meetings, facilitate information sharing between the Sheriff’s Office and the public, provide no cost security assessments to homes, churches, schools and businesses and promote valuable programs like Crime Stoppers. In past administrations, this program provided proven crime prevention and led to many arrests. For example, Sheriff Jeff Frazier implemented this program at the largest public housing development between Raleigh and New Bern. After a short amount of time, the public's ability to communicate with law enforcement provided the information needed to drastically reduce violent crime.
The best part is these programs work in every neighborhood! Proactive! Not reactive!
We will make these criminals so uncomfortable that they simply won’t be able to conduct business. I’m truly not going to play with these individuals. I will set a precedent on DAY 1 of being your Sheriff that the days of tolerating unlawfulness and the terrorizing of our good citizens is over!
Unsolved Cases and Missing Persons
We will clear a main wall in the Sheriff’s office and post family pictures of those murdered and missing. We will make sure that no one in that office regardless of rank will be able to forget them. We will treat them all as if they were our own family members. To help further those cases, we will implement a Justice Team of current law enforcement professionals, former law enforcement professionals and a wide range of other volunteers whose main mission is to track down leads, stay in contact with and advise victim’s families along with using all legal methods available to us to bring justice and closure to the families. I believe these cases deserve a lot more attention, and if I become your Sheriff, they will get just that! We will work these cases using every available legal avenue we can. I’ll never give up, and you will know we are working hard!
SROs & School Safety
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” This quote from Nelson Mandela couldn’t be more accurate. With that said, it’s extremely important to me that every child has the opportunity to learn and grow without any fears of harm. No school, private or public, will ever be refused protection under my watch. Funding will not stand in the way of protecting our babies. Additionally, we will have strategic plans for every school along with offering training for teachers and school personnel on what to do in case of an emergency. Another situation where Proactive is the only acceptable approach!
Did you know there are statutes that allow a volunteer SRO program in North Carolina? These are actually already lawful and legal ways to increase safety and lower cost. These programs are currently not being utilized. These men and women would be in addition to SROs that are currently in schools. At a time when only one school resource officer may be tasked with protecting and responding to up to 900 students and faculty, the need for additional personnel is paramount. Every legal avenue and resource available should be used in the protection of our children.
§ 162‑26. Sheriff may establish volunteer school safety resource officer program.
(a) The sheriff may establish a volunteer school safety resource officer program to provide nonsalaried special deputies to serve as school safety resource officers in public schools. To be a volunteer in the program, a person must have prior experience as either (i) a sworn law enforcement officer or (ii) a military police officer with a minimum of two years' service. If a person with experience as a military police officer is no longer in the armed services, the person must also have an honorable discharge. A program volunteer must receive training on research into the social and cognitive development of elementary, middle, and high school children and must also meet the selection standards and any additional criteria established by the sheriff. (b) Each volunteer shall report to the sheriff and shall work under the direction and supervision of the sheriff or the sheriff's designee when carrying out the volunteer's duties as a school safety resource officer. No volunteer may be assigned to a school as a school safety resource officer until the volunteer has updated or renewed the volunteer's law enforcement training and has been certified by the North Carolina Sheriff's Education and Training Standards Commission as meeting the educational and firearms proficiency standards required of persons serving as special deputy sheriffs. A volunteer is not required to meet the physical standards required by the North Carolina Sheriff's Education and Training Standards Commission but must have a standard medical exam to ensure the volunteer is in good health. A person selected by the sheriff to serve as a volunteer under this section shall have the power of arrest while performing official duties as a volunteer school safety resource officer. (c) The sheriff may enter into an agreement with the local board of education to provide volunteer school safety resource officers who meet both the criteria established by this section and the selection and training requirements set by the sheriff of the county for the schools. The sheriff shall be responsible for the assignment of any volunteer school safety resource officer assigned to a public school and for the supervision of the officer. (d) There shall be no liability on the part of and no cause of action shall arise against a volunteer school safety resource officer, the Sheriff or employees of the sheriff supervising a volunteer school safety officer, or the public school system or its employees for any good‑faith action taken by them in the performance of their duties with regard to the volunteer school safety resource officer program established pursuant to this section. (2013‑360, s. 8.45(e).)
We are also going to work towards expanding on this program by using unarmed personnel in schools that will offer an increased deterrence. More security in place will allow them to assist school personnel and SROs which lessens the likelihood of serious injury or death. This is how you reduce the cost of safety that continuously burdens tax payers and school boards all while increasing the amount of personnel on site. This expansion will be introduced to legislators as another cost efficient way of making schools even safer.
Animal Safety, Enforcement &
New Volunteer Program
Speaking on this topic touches my heart greatly. I am an absolute animal lover. I personally have 4 dogs. Niko is a well trained Czech Shepherd, Justice is a well trained Doberman, Salem is a black Lab and Luna is a Pit. I also have a cat named Binx. Salem, Luna and Binx are rescues.
Since starting this journey, one of my goals is to join the current Animal Control with the Sheriff’s Office. This has many benefits, but most importantly, it gives agents the backing of the Sheriff and will serve greatly in the enforcing of laws pertaining to animals. This is already being done throughout many counties in North Carolina by many Sheriffs.
I am also someone who is well aware of the euthanasia numbers. My commitment to you is to not only expand on the measures taken to ensure animal safety but also dramatically reduce the number of animals euthanized in Halifax County. My goal is to see that number reduced by 50% our first year together and to eventually have a No Kill policy at our shelter except for circumstances that are beyond our control. We will work extremely closely with shelters throughout the east coast and will work with volunteers to help us rehome animals.
My vision is to start a volunteer program overseen by a board of members to include county representatives and others from our community for the county shelters growing needs. This is currently not in place and will help alleviate the labor shortages that plague this department. Volunteer programs like this are also at no cost to our tax payers and greatly improve the quality of life for those animals in our care along with acting as a quality control for our shelters. Volunteers will assist in basic daily operations like helping to clean kennels, feeding, walking the animals and more. Our main goal is to assist in finding homes for these fur babies before the risk of euthanasia. Becoming a no kill shelter will require assistance from everyone, but it's something we can absolutely accomplish if we work together! I know there are many folks just as passionate as I am when it comes to the safety and care of animals.
Let me also be clear about animal abuse and illegal fighting of animals, I simply will not tolerate it! We will investigate every tip, we will pursue those individuals and we will prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
The unconditional love of an animal is a love that's hard to compare with anything else. It's time we show them that same love.