Tag Archive for: #vancecountysheriffsoffice

$25,000 Reward Offered For Information About 2018 Homicide

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A $25,000 reward is being offered by the state of North Carolina for information about an almost five-year-old unsolved murder in Vance County.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s office made the announcement Thursday in connection with the death of 22-year-old De’Cedric Tyquon Alston.

In the late evening hours of Feb. 22, 2018, Alston was shot multiple times while driving his vehicle near the 1100 block of Warrenton Road in Henderson. He was transported to the hospital and later died from his injuries.

Anyone having information concerning this case should contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office at 252.738.2200, Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925 or the State Bureau of Investigation at 919.662.4500.

TownTalk: Sheriff Curtis Brame Sworn In; Begins Second Term

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Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame officially began his second term of office today, after a swearing-in ceremony that took place at the Vance County Courthouse at 11 a.m. Monday.

The oath of office was administered in the presence of retired judge Randolph Baskerville.

Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow was one of the speakers during today’s swearing-in ceremony. He said he is proud of their close working relationship when it comes to protecting Vance County and Henderson and keeping residents safe.

In his remarks, Barrow said he picked up on a theme that Baskerville had mentioned in his remarks at the beginning of the ceremony: Character, the judge said, is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

“I wanted to build off of what the judge had said,” Barrow told WIZS News by telephone Monday. So he added, “Character is doing the right thing when everybody is looking.”

He said that is what Brame does – he makes decisions that the public may not understand, but it’s “still…the right choice, even though it might not be the popular choice.”

“Sometimes we can’t tell the public why we make the decisions we make,” Barrow said.

In previous interviews with WIZS News, Brame has said his office needs more funding to try to fill job openings, and he has been vocal about the need for a new jail. He also has strongly stated to the community that parents need to play a role in the lives of youth in the area, and helping to keep them out of trouble and off the radar of law enforcement.

 

 

Election Coverage: Brame Targets Drug Activity, Addressing Staff Shortage If Elected To Second Term As Sheriff

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-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

Election Coverage: Bailey Targets Drug Sales, More Training As First Steps If Elected Sheriff

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-The following is part of WIZS’s continuing coverage of the Nov. 8 election.

Patrick Bailey says his experience in the private sector, coupled with his training and background in law enforcement make him the candidate to vote for in the upcoming race for Vance County Sheriff.

WIZS aired Monday morning a recorded but unedited interview with the Republican candidate for sheriff, during which time he and John C. Rose discussed issues facing the community and how Bailey will address them if he’s elected.

Bailey prioritized combatting the drug issue, increased training for sheriff’s office staff and beefing up administration within the sheriff’s office.

“I see where the problems are, (and) I know what needs to be done,” he said. “I know where the issues are and I have a plan for achieving the goals I’m setting,” he added.

Illegal Drug Activity

“Drugs is my number one focus once I become sheriff,” Bailey reiterated. “It’s a very big problem, not just in this county, but in the state as well.”

He said he would organize a drug unit within the sheriff’s office to try to eliminate drug sales, especially in locations where such illegal activities are known – by the community and by law enforcement personnel – to take place.

“We need a certain aggressive effort to curb the sale of fentanyl and heroin in this county,’ he said, which would help to stop deadly overdoses and reduce the supply of illegal drugs that comes into the county.

Shutting down so-called “drug houses” and making arrests will be first steps toward creating safer communities for residents who have expressed their concerns to Bailey. Getting undercover officers to make drug buys is the first step in making arrests, swearing out search warrants and getting convictions.

But Bailey said he would advocate for a community clean-up program “to eliminate these houses altogether.”

He also would support collaboration with mental health professionals to help those with substance abuse problems get the help they need to get them off the drugs, “rather than just sending them to prison.”

Bailey said he would focus first on drug activity within the county before he branches out to include the interstates and highways with a drug interdiction team, but that is something he would implement as sheriff.

Administration

Bailey said the county needs a change in law enforcement structure, both to improve recruitment and retention of qualified personnel for the sheriff’s office and to deal with other ongoing challenges.

A certified law enforcement instructor, Bailey said training is key to having deputies perform their duties at the highest possible level.

He has a degree in criminal justice, and he said he would make sure that his staff got more than

The minimum mandatory in-service training requirements to keep them “up to speed” with what is happening within the county.

“I certainly feel like I am capable,” Bailey said of running the sheriff’s office. He said he would work to get recruitment and retention programs in place so the Vance County Sheriff’s Office would be an agency where employees want to come to work every day.
“I want morale to be very high,” he said.

He left the field of law enforcement for a career in private business, and he said he gained valuable experience in areas of management and finance that will serve him well as sheriff.

“I know how to balance a budget, and to see that it’s utilized in the best possible way it can be,” Bailey said.

Bailey was critical of the way that the current administration has dealt with a situation involving three members of the sheriff’s office who have been suspended with pay for almost two years following their indictment on felony charges.

“It’s costing our taxpayers roughly a little over $300,000,” he said.

They should have been put on unpaid suspension until the situation was resolved, he said.

“You have to have a plan with how you’re going to deal with any and all situations, and you follow that scenario regardless of what the charge is.”

Full Audio Interview

Sheriff Curtis Brame

Brame Asks Commissioners For Study To Build New Jail

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Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame continues to work to correct deficiencies at the local jail, but he said the fact of the matter is this: the county needs a new detention center.

Brame addressed the Vance County Commissioners at their Aug. 1 meeting, during which the most recent jail inspection report was presented for review. And he asked commissioners to provide funding for a study to build a new detention center.

“We are in a facility that has long outgrown its needs,” Brame told WIZS News  Friday. “Our detention center is antiquated and outdated,” he said, and noted safety issues – for staff and detainees alike – as a result of the condition of the physical plant.

The most recent inspection was conducted on June 14, and commissioners received the report in the August agenda packet.

The 9-page report included everything from non-functioning locks on food passage doors to dirty showers, but also detailed deficiencies in staff trainings and supervision.

Brame has responded to many of the items in a correction plan that was submitted to state jail inspectors and corrections will be verified during the next inspection.

But the overall physical condition of the jai, located at 516 Breckenridge St., looms larger for Brame. “Over 31 years ago the county decided to renovate the detention
center,” he said in a statement to WIZS. He said the renovations do not meet current standards and needs and he maintains that the jail “is unsafe for both staff and detainees.”

TownTalk: Patrick Bailey And Jonathan Collier Discuss Candidacy For Sheriff

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The Republican candidates whose names will be on the May 17 primary election for Sheriff of Vance County spoke on Tuesday’s Town Talk in WIZS’s continuing coverage of local races and the candidates vying for office.

Patrick Bailey and Jonathan Collier spoke with John C. Rose and their remarks were recorded for presentation. Increased drug activity, crime rates and increased training for sheriff’s office staff are a few of the issues that both candidates spoke about.

Patrick Bailey

Bailey, who has worked with the Henderson Police Department as well as in business management, said he has the skills needed to be the county’s head law enforcement officer. The sheriff oversees and administers staff and programs, and makes sure that the office is functioning “accurately and appropriately within the laws of the state of North Carolina. You really need to be on top of it before something happens and you’re in a position where you don’t want to be,” he said.

Bailey said in conversations with people across the county’s 12 townships, he has heard stories of drug deals “yet they see no enforcement action being taken…to try and curtail that in any way.” He described the opioid epidemic in Vance County  as “astronomical.”

The drug issue must be addressed and sheriff’s officers need additional training to be able to combat the problem. Bailey said he wants to reinstate the drug interdiction program and put officers on I-85, U.S. 1 and N.C. Hwy. 39, all of which he said are major points of access into the county. This will allow officers to get the drugs before they can hit the street and be distributed.
“We need to try to focus on the drug dealers and put them out of business,” he said. Putting officers in place to combat problem areas begins with adequate training so officers know how to accurately and responsibly handle various situations and avoid inappropriate behaviors that get them in trouble.

It stands to reason that increased drug arrests means more people who will be serving time at the detention facility, which Bailey said needs much improvement. Granville and Warren counties both have new detention facilities and Bailey said the Vance jail is antiquated and out-of-date. “Once I get elected as sheriff of Vance County, I’ve going to have to work with the county commissioners… and see where the money is being spent,” he said.

Bailey said he would have an open-door policy as sheriff. “I feel like we need to have the policy more open to the citizens of the county to let them know that they can talk to the sheriff about any issue in the county.”

Jonathan Collier

Collier said his experience working with both Vance County and Granville County sheriff’s offices, as well as the Henderson Police Department will serve him in the role of sheriff.

“The first order of business is to ensure that we have individuals that are properly trained and properly educated on the general statutes and federal law – that is going to be the first step,” Collier said. Making sure officers are trained properly and are “doing the job that the county of Vance and its citizens are paying them to do.”

Collier said he is hearing from people in the community who don’t feel safe, whether in their own homes or at the corner convenience store. “It’s a problem when those individuals don’t feel safe,” he said, adding that it is the job of the sheriff’s office to ensure their safety.

The youth in the community need support, too, he said. “We need to figure out a way to get in front of our youth and start mentoring our youth and teenagers,” Collier said. Having positive role models to help keep youth on the right path will help them avoid run-ins with the law and participating in criminal activity.

In his work with narcotics and with firearms-related offenses Collier said he believes that law enforcement officers must exercise effective communication skills as they work and interact in the community.

“It’s paramount,” he said. “If you don’t have it,” you’re most likely going to fail when working in a team function.” He said as a law enforcement officer, it was important to have conversations with individuals to understand and try to get in front of the problems presented in society and said he considers himself a teacher and a mentor, not just someone who enforces the law.

As for the condition of the county detention center, Collier said he has heard that it is outdated and of problems keeping it fully staffed.

Collier, who is retired from the U.S. Coast Guard, said he appreciates and relies on utilizing the chain of command. He will use that policy to help the flow of the sheriff’s department, he said. And will make sure it’s followed. He also said he would make it a priority to bring accreditation to the Vance County Sheriff’s Office, having in place policies and procedures help guide and inform officers when they are on duty or off duty and to help him address any issues that may arise with the ranks.

Collier said he will listen to community concerns, too.
“If an issue is brought forward to me, it will be addressed,” he said. He said he enjoys a “great working relationship” with local agencies and those in surrounding jurisdictions, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s office. Those relationships will continue if he is elected sheriff as he works to make the county safer for its citizens.

 

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Vance County Logo

Sheriff, jail staff working to fix problems noted in state inspection

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hear a report about the recent state inspection of the county jail at their meeting Monday, Jan. 10.

Although the biannual inspection contained numerous findings regarding the state of the facility, the director’s report indicates that all deficiencies have either been corrected or are close to being corrected.

Vance County Detention Director Maj. John Shelton prepared a three-page response to the inspection, which was conducted on Dec. 1, 2021 by an inspector from N.C. Health and Human Services.

Most of the findings have to do with the actual jail building and include issues like peeling paint, rusty vents in cells and damaged glass. Sheriff Curtis R. Brame told WIZS News that the county just needs a new detention center.

“The one that serves our county is old, outdated, antiquated and unsafe for both staff and detainees,” Brame said in an email.

The peeling paint and rusty vents are both the result of condensation on exterior walls, Shelton noted in his report. “Over the years, the mildew has been painted over rather that the source being eliminated. That has caused the paint to bubble up and peel away,” the report stated.

Dehumidifiers have been placed throughout the facility and the plan is to install a vent fan to pull moisture out, as well as address any air flow issues. Once the moisture problem has been fixed, the walls will be scraped and re-painted. But that work will have to be contracted out because the jail has no maintenance person and there currently are no “suitable trustees to help,” the report stated.

Staffing shortages are the result of another finding by the state inspector in the supervision category. Regulations state that inmates be observed “at least two times within a 60-minute period on an irregular basis with not more than 40 minutes between rounds.”

A records review during the inspection found that this was not the case on at least one occasion.

The sheriff’s office report said there are not enough detention officers available to make sure each squad is fully staffed. Three squads have only three detention officers and a fourth squad only has two. The authorized staffing level is seven per squad.

“We have been offering paid overtime to detention officers and deputies to fill some of the vacant blocks of time, particularly at night and on the weekends,” Shelton stated in the report. A lieutenant has been put in charge of monitoring the rounds and taking disciplinary action when necessary.

Other issues that were identified are:

  • Inoperable fixtures, but Shelton said that the lights in the female dorm had not been turned on at the switch. “Once those lights were switched on, they worked as designed.” The bulbs that are not working in Segregation Cell 3 will be changed once the bits arrive that are needed to unscrew the bolts of the tamper-proof fixture, the report stated.
  • Perry Glass will install new Lexan to replace the damaged laminated glass in Segregation Cell 1.
  • A missing ceiling tile in a storage area has been replaced.
  • An outside  camera is not working, and Shelton noted that it had been damaged in a storm. The camera vendor has been contacted.
  • Dieticians at Maria Parham Health have been contacted to consult with planning menus for detainees.

The Local Skinny! Domestic Violence Awareness Event Scheduled For Oct. 23

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Sheriff Curtis Brame R. Brame and the Vance County Sheriff’s Office is teaming up with Clearview Church in Henderson to provide a program designed to remember victims of domestic violence as well as to raise awareness within the community about a problem that is all-too-prevalent.

The public is invited to the third annual “Think Community” event, set for Saturday, Oct. 23 at 3 p.m., according to Debbie Scott, domestic violence coordinator and gang resource specialist with the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.

This event is all about collaboration, she told Bill Harris on Thursday’s The Local Skinny! segment.

Raleigh’s new police chief, Estella Patterson, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker, Scott said, and the event will pay special tribute to a young woman – a survivor of domestic violence – who also happens to be a poet. Special musical guests will be Roy Burroughs & Work in Progress.

Domestic violence affects the whole community, she said, adding that this event can help community members learn how to spot signs of domestic violence and better deal with the associated challenges.

It’s so important to break the silence of domestic violence, she said, to alleviate the stigma and the shame that victims may feel.

“It’s about everybody,” Scott noted. “This challenge is not just a survivor’s issue – it’s a community issue.

It’s community sponsors like Betty B’s, the Optimist Club, Salvation Army and Vance-Granville Community College and others who help make this annual event a success. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Scott thanked the sponsors and Dr. Abidan Shah, pastor of Clearview Church, for their ongoing support.

Clearview Church is located at 3485 Hwy 158 Business, Henderson, NC 27537.

For more information contact  Scott at 252.738.2235 or by email at dscott@vancecounty.org.

Vance County Sheriff's Office

Vance Co. Sheriff’s Office Presenting Domestic Violence Awareness Event

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Think Community, the Third Annual Domestic Violence Awareness Event, hosted by Sheriff Curtis R. Brame, the Vance Co. Sheriff’s Office and Dr. Abidan Shah, pastor of Clearview Church, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 23rd at 3pm at Clearview Church, 3485 US Highway 158 in Henderson. Keynote speaker will be Chief Estella Patterson of the Raleigh Police Department. Special guest community choir will be Roy Burroughs & Work in Progress. Refreshments will be provided by Clearview Church. For more information contact Debbie K. Scott, Gang Resource Officer/Domestic Violence, with the Vance Co. Sheriff’s Office at 252-738-2235 or by email at dscott@vancecounty.org.

Support ‘Shop With A Cop’ Project – Buy A Ticket For Chance To Win Cash Prize

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The “Shop With a Cop” program kicked off Wednesday, and there are 180 opportunities to help make the project a success.

This year marks the sixth year that the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Henderson Police Department and the Vance County Sheriff’s Office to raise money for local law enforcement to go Christmas shopping with underprivileged youth in the community.

Chamber President Michele Burgess said she is pleased to report that many sponsors are helping to provide financial support, which means that at least $5,000 will be raised for the shopping spree that will take place in December at the Walmart in Henderson.

In addition to sponsors, there are 180 tickets available for purchase. The number of the ticket is the price you pay, and four winners will be drawn. The top prize is $2,000, followed by prizes of $1,000, $500 and $200, according to the Chamber.

Stop by the Chamber office to purchase a ticket, or purchase a ticket from members of the Chamber board as well as from members of the police department and sheriff’s office.

Burgess said she hopes all tickets will be sold by Oct. 22 – the drawing for the cash prizes is scheduled for Nov. 10.

It remains to be seen whether the Nov. 10 event will be a small event like last year, or whether it can be larger, as in 2019 when the community gathered at Sadie’s Coffee Corner to hear the winners announced.

The real winners, of course, are the children who get to shop with a cop in December.

“They will actually go with a policeman or a law enforcement person to Walmart and they’ll be able to pick their gifts,” Burgess said.

The children get to have fun and have positive interaction with a law enforcement officer, and the officers get quality one-on-one time with a young citizen, she added.

Burgess is especially appreciative of the support from sponsors and said one sponsor reported that he had always had a great Christmas, and wanted to make sure that children in the community had a similar experience.

Contact the Chamber at 252.438.8414 to learn more or visit www.hendersonvance.org.