-The following is part of WIZS’s continuing coverage of the Nov. 8 election.
Curtis Brame said he looks forward to a second term as sheriff and working collectively with the community to keep Vance County residents safe. During his first term, Brame has had to contend with issues like staffing shortages and increased service calls, deficiencies in the county jail and the burgeoning drug activity. Toss in a two years’ long COVID-19 pandemic, and Brame said it’s been challenging.
But, with his more than 38 years of law enforcement experience, Brame said he knows the “ins and outs, the do’s and don’ts” of the sheriff’s office. “Experience makes the difference.”
Illegal Drug Activity
He said his office gets calls daily about the drug problem, and he said that his personnel cannot do it alone. “We have to educate and train people to say ‘no,’” Brame said in an interview with WIZS’s John C. Rose recorded and aired unedited on Monday.
The traffickers and sellers need to be in jail, he said, but parents have to get more involved in educating their children. “It all comes back to education and training,” he said.
When his office receives a citizen complaint about drug activity, Brame said it’s not as simple as kicking in a door and making an arrest.
“It’s a process,” he explained. Once officers follow up on the complaint and investigate, it’s time to take information to the district attorney and other agencies like the DEA.
Following proper procedure in building a case against a suspected dealer means a better chance of getting a conviction.
Administration
“The sheriff’s office has a multitude of jobs and responsibilities,” Brame said, from transporting mental patients to processing concealed carry applications and gun permits to making arrests and serving civil summonses. “People don’t realize those responsibilities,” he noted, adding that being a sheriff’s deputy is more than “knocking in doors and serving warrants.”
The caseload is overwhelming for a fully staffed sheriff’s office, but can be almost crippling to an agency that has more than 30 opening between the sheriff’s office and the detention facility.
But Brame said Vance County is not alone – law enforcement agencies across the state and beyond face staffing shortages.
Brame said he appreciates the support from county commissioners and from the county manager to offer incentives for new hires – and for moving forward with a feasibility study to examine just what needs to happen at the jail – repair or replace the 30-year-old facility.
Brame said he stands by his decision to place on paid suspension the three men from his office who face indictments. As stated in previous interviews, Brame said a gag order imposed on him prevents his comment on the case, but said “they want their day in court, I want their day in court.”
Full Audio Interview