The Lowdown Archive

Orange County is 409 square miles. Within those boundaries live approximately 145,000 people. The duties of a modern sheriff’s office are complex, but protecting people and property is our primary responsibility.

In this month’s edition of The Lowdown, I want to take you inside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) and describe how we approach that responsibility from a structural perspective, examining our larger divisions.

One of the main ways we protect people and property is through our patrol division. This is likely the area of law enforcement with which you are most familiar. The county is divided into geographical areas; a deputy patrols each area assessing and promoting safety, conducting house/building/church checks, responding to calls for service, and enforcing traffic laws within that area. We accomplish this with approximately 40 deputies assigned to four rotating shifts, covering the county 24 hours a day throughout the year. Perhaps most importantly, we are out in the community, making personal contacts with residents and business owners, and generally meeting people where they are.

The OCSO also protects the community through its management of the detention center. Often called a jail, the detention center houses people awaiting trial, defendants serving sentences for misdemeanor crimes, and federal inmates who need a bed. The detention center also provides temporary custody for public inebriates and those under domestic violence safety holds. Our average daily census is at or near our capacity of 129. The detention center is always open; inmates receive three meals a day and any necessary medical care. The approximate cost per inmate is $111 per day.

The specially trained detention officers and deputies who work in the jail are tasked with providing a safe, secure, and clean environment for persons committed there. Most road deputies in Orange County start their careers working in the detention center. Deputies report this experience as invaluable for learning the communication skills they will need working with the public. The detention center staff also includes dietary, medical, and transport personnel. Transport officers coordinate transfers between jails and prisons, and to and from hospitals and medical facilities. Approximately 45 people serve in the detention center division.

When crimes are reported and not resolved immediately by the responding deputy, cases are referred to our Criminal Investigations Division. These 11 men and women have specialized training in investigative techniques, crime scene analysis, and case management. Some of them further specialize in death scene investigation, arson, fraud, larceny, burglary, sex crimes, and cyber-crimes. Investigators analyze large quantities of information, establish leads, and conduct interviews. Some investigators serve on specialized task forces where multiple agencies share information, training, and resources to address crimes that cross jurisdictional boundaries, such as internet crimes against children.

The OCSO also has additional investigators working undercover in narcotics; they strive to minimize the sale and delivery of illegal substances within our county and in the surrounding areas. The investigative division is also responsible for our K9 teams who focus on narcotics detection, tracking, article search, and criminal apprehension of violent offenders. We have three such partnerships; these pairs complete 16 hours of training per month.

Another way we protect the people of Orange County is through the School Resource Officer program, which began during the 1993-1994 school year. A School Resource Officer (SRO) is a certified law enforcement officer permanently assigned to provide coverage to a school. We have 18 deputies serving as SROs – at least one in each of the schools in the Orange County School System. These officers support student success in school using skills gained in their specialized training. SROs are fully aware of the dangers of the school to prison pipeline. They provide mentorship to vulnerable students; they guide students toward positive decisions; they search for appropriate resolutions to disputes; and they promote diversion programs designed to keep students out of the judicial system. Essentially, SROs seek to instill in each student an exciting vision for that student’s future, and they help him or her avoid roadblocks to achieving those goals.

The divisions described above account for approximately 75% of personnel assignments at the OCSO. Next month, I will write about our smaller divisions and the areas of our office less well known to the public, including our crisis unit, the civil division, the court security team, crime prevention, records, training, and administration. As always, please let me know what questions you have or what topics you would like me to explore in future editions of The Lowdown. Email your thoughts and inquiries to my Public Information Officer at astemper@orangecountync.gov.

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This article is a monthly feature in the News of Orange; it usually runs in the first monthly edition of the paper. However, I am writing this extra column to make readers aware of a vastly underutilized safety service available in our county; one so important I did not want to wait for September.

I will begin by describing the situation we faced last week. Wednesday morning a 75-year-old person with dementia wandered away from home in the early morning hours. After conducting a quick search, her husband reported her missing. Following an intense, coordinated search effort, rescuers found her at late Friday morning, almost 53 hours later, lying in a creek. Although she needed medical assessment and treatment for exposure, she suffered no serious injuries.

Statistics tell us that 75% of lost people with dementia are located within 1.2 miles of their last known point; this proved accurate in this case. When found, the woman was only .5 miles from her home and approximately 400 yards from the back of the nearest house.

We had a magnificent response from the statewide response management system. In all, more than 325 people from 36 agencies assisted in the search, and we had many more willing to help. We primarily used people with specialized training in search and rescue. Given the difficult wooded terrain, dense foliage, extreme humidity, and deep ravines, the search was a surprisingly technical. Searchers moved about on hands and knees in some areas. We also used many canine assets; these dogs provided information about where she had likely been. People with dementia tend to “ping pong” off obstacles, especially when lost. Consequently, the dogs did not have one scent trail to follow. It is possible the woman crisscrossed the terrain before ultimately landing in the creek.

The behavior profile for lost people with dementia predicts searchers will find the missing person in brush, along fence lines, in an outbuilding, or in a low-lying area. The lost person will often not call out to rescuers, even when they are passing nearby. We therefore needed to contact all nearby residents to ask them to search their properties carefully, particularly crawl spaces, gardens, vehicles, and under decks. Unfortunately, we had limited ability to make direct contact with residents of that area because only about a dozen people had registered their phones with the reverse 911 system. Usually used to warn people of danger such as severe weather, environmental hazards, or nearby criminal activity, we wanted to use this system to provide instructions about the specific assistance we needed from the woman’s neighbors.

When most people had landline telephones, reverse 911 systems had the ability to penetrate deeply into defined geographical areas. Now, few people have landlines, and people must opt in to register their cell phones. This has greatly diminished our ability to reach large numbers of people quickly.

In Orange County, OC Alerts is an invaluable tool to enhance YOUR safety. Not only would it have been useful to get specific messaging out to the missing person’s neighbors, it allows emergency management personnel to provide critical, time sensitive information in a variety of situations. If your neighborhood is under an evacuation order, for instance, you want to know that information as soon as possible.

Please go to www.ReadyOrange.org. This page contains information about disaster and emergency preparedness. The link to sign up for OC alerts is prominent in the middle of this page. Create an account, provide your contact numbers, and check the boxes to identify which type of alerts you

want to receive. The system also allow you to identify special needs you or your family may have, and you can indicate if you have specialized training or are willing to volunteer your skills or equipment during a crisis situation. [Select GMT: Eastern Standard Time America/New York as your time zone.]

I am delighted this search ended successfully. The event highlighted the amazing spirit and can-do attitude among people who choose emergency services as their life’s work. We are so grateful for the flood of resources we had from all over the state, and we appreciate each donation, every call of support, and all the people who volunteered, whether we were able to deploy them or not.

The men and women of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office work every day to improve the public safety of people who live in or travel through our area. Please do your part to help us help you. Register your phone(s) with OC Alerts. Remember:

If we can't reach you, we can't alert you!

Thank you for reading this, my first column for the News of Orange. I am humbled every day by the trust the voters placed in me when they first elected me as the county’s 47th Sheriff in 2014, and when they reelected me in 2018.

Obviously, I find law enforcement interesting and engaging – I chose to make it my life’s work. Each month, through this column, I will attempt to give readers a behind the badge look at what, why, and how we do what we do in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Let me know your interests - I can write about philosophy, a day in the life, our K9 team, equipment costs, NARCAN, the anatomy of an eviction, how we interface with 911, and much more.

This week, I thought I would start with a little specific history about the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and some general information about the office of the sheriff.

In the 267-year history of Orange County, 45 people have taken the oath of office as sheriff (two served twice). Many terms were short. In fact, two sheriffs started and ended their service in the same year: John Hawkins in 1780 and E. H. Ray in 1867. Moreover, it took 22 sheriffs to cover the first 47 years of law enforcement in the county. By contrast, I am only the third sheriff elected in the last 61 years! Voters elected me after Sheriff A. Lindy Pendergrass, the county’s longest serving sheriff, decided not to seek re-election after 32 years. Prior to that, C.D. Knight was sheriff for 24 years – I began my career working for him.

Formed in 1752, Orange County takes its name from William of Orange V of England, the land grant holder. It originally consisted of what we now know as Orange, Alamance, Durham, Chatham, Caswell and Person counties. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office began that same year. Alexander Mebane was the first sheriff, serving from 1752-1754. The town of Mebane, originally incorporated as Mebanesville in 1881, bears his name.

The concept of a sheriff stretches back through time; one of the earliest mentions is in the Bible, where sheriffs acted as supervisors for King Nebuchadnezzar. The responsibilities of sheriffs carried over to England when King Alfred the Great divided the land into “Shires” and appointed “Rieves” to oversee them. Eventually “shire rieves” became “Sheriff.” In those days, a sheriff administered the law, assembled armies, apprehended offenders, and passed on information (initially by word of mouth) about criminals to neighboring jurisdictions.

The Office of the Sheriff made its way across the ocean and into the new world. One of the first acts decided on by the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts was the formation of a Sheriff/Constable for the settlement. The Sheriff was an officer of the court, collector of public taxes and private levies, keeper of prisons, and the public hangman.

As the thirteen colonies became the United States, the Office of Sheriff reflected the new government’s design. North Carolina in 1776 was one of many states that put the position of Sheriff into their state constitution. Of course, at this point, Orange County had already established the office 24 years earlier! Once the position was in the state constitution, voters elected the sheriff and he or she was no longer appointed by the King or Governor. The sheriff is in the unique position of being active in all three branches of the criminal justice system: law enforcement, the courts, and corrections.

It is important to realize sheriffs’ offices did not exist in the way we think of them today until the mid-19th century. Citizens used to be legally bound to be ready at the command of the sheriff to help arrest felons. You may be familiar with the concept of a posse from watching westerns on television; a sheriff would deputize ordinary people to help apprehend criminals. People acting on behalf of the sheriff in such situations were subject to the same protections and consequences that the sheriff faced, yet they had no training or experience. People who did not serve when commanded were subject to fines. Today, highly trained deputies assist me with my duties. I am grateful I do not have to grab people off the street every time someone calls 911!

I look forward to this monthly chance to give you the lowdown. Please suggest ideas for future columns by emailing my Public Information Officer at astemper@orangecountync.gov. Thank you!