During last year’s 2015 budget negotiations between the Beaufort County Commissioners and the Office of the Sheriff, then county manager Ken Windley approached me and stated that the county commissioners wanted to know how many deputies and how much funding it would take to supply security for the entire courthouse. After researching the matter and considering factors such as State mandated training, employee vacation and sick leave I advised the county manager I would need a minimum of 4 deputies, and even with that number I would still have to use deputies from other divisions to fill in from time to time. I also advised Mr. Windley that it would take approximately $200,000 and a one time cost of a vehicle for each deputy. I later advised Mr. Windley and the county commissioners that the deputies would not only supply professional law enforcement security for the courthouse but I would also utilize them to help with the shortage I already have in courtroom personnel, and for the security of this county during emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, civil unrest, etc.
The county commissioners rejected my offer, and for several weeks afterwards, they and Judge Sermons continued to make ridiculous statements to me such as: “You will only need 1 deputy If you lock all the other doors in the courthouse, and you don’t have to use deputies, you can hire civilians. At one point Judge Sermons even went as far as to attempt to order my compliance by stating:” Sheriff, you have two weeks to put deputies at the courthouse doors and secure this building or I’m going to issue you a court order and force you to do it”. I quickly advised Judge Sermons of the law that pertains to the statutory responsibilities and authority of an elected Sheriff, and that I answer to the people who elected me and not to him or the county commissioners. I then advised Judge Sermons of the North Carolina Statute that mandates the Sheriff to have balliffs in the courtroom “not” the courthouse. Under Chapter 17E. 17E-1. Findings and policy. The General Assembly finds that the Sheriff is the only officer of local government that is required by the North Carolina Constitution. The Sheriff, in addition to his criminal justice responsibilities, is the only officer who is also responsible for the courts of the State, and acting as their bailiff and marshal. The Sheriff administers and executes criminal and civil justice and acts as the ex officio detention officer. The Deputy Sheriff has been held by the Supreme Court of this State to hold an office of special trust and confidence, acting in the name of, and with the same powers as his principal, the elected Sheriff. I advised Judge Sermons that what he was talking about would be the same as trying to order me to provide deputies and security at the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, the Tax Office or any other county building. I don’t know where he or the commissioners think I would have the personnel or funding to accomplish this. As the Sheriff, if I were to give in to such foolish demands I would not have enough personnel to answer calls for service or maintain the many services my Office provides to the citizens of Beaufort County. To use a little sarcasm, I could tell Judge Sermons and the other Judges in the courthouse that if they wish me to provide courtroom and courthouse security at the same time I could order the balliffs in the courtrooms to call a “time out” and leave the courtroom several times a day to assist the civilian security guards with unruly citizens that the security guards can’t handle on their own, but since that wouldn’t serve Judge Sermons’ self serving ideology I’m sure he or the other Judges would not want to consider this. When this all began a year ago it was a back room plan orchestrated by Commissioner Gary Brinn, Jerry Langley and Judge Waylon Sermons in an attempt to show the new Sheriff who’s boss and who runs this county. Their plan failed. Then in an effort to ”show the Sheriff” the commissioners voted to hire these security guards because I would not give in to their or Judge Sermons’ unfunded demands, and now they have spent more and will continue to spend even more in the future than they would have spent if they would have only been truthful and upfront in their dealings with me instead of attempting to run their agenda down my throat. The deputies that work in the courthouse are assigned to the courtrooms by “Law”. As Sheriff, I have a statutory responsibility to assign a bailiff to each courtroom while court is in session. Some days that will include 2 deputies for Superior Court, 2 for District, 1 for Civil and 1 for the Grand Jury room. Not to mention at least 1 deputy to constantly bring prisoners up and down from the jail to the different courts and transport deputies to bring prisoners to and from other counties. Which means I am already using deputies from other divisions to maintain my statutory responsibility to provide security to the “courts”. By law the Office of Sheriff is not an entity or department of a county and doesn’t answer to the county office, county commissioners and especially to a judge who thinks he can run another elected officials’ office with threats of court orders. Now the whole thing is falling apart on them and not working after I advised them in open session at a county commissioners meeting that they needed to slow down, do more research and that they were about to hire hall monitors that had no powers of arrest and they were going to be wasting a lot of tax payers money. The commissioners then proceeded immediately and voted 5-2 to hire this private company to provide courthouse security. As a tax payer I knew at that time they were entering into a foolish business agreement, and as the Sheriff I knew logistically it wasn’t going to work and I advised them of it at that same meeting “before” they voted on it (Recorded for public viewing). But because of their arrogance and ignorance they chose to go ahead anyway and have wasted $168,000 of the tax payers’ dollars with nothing to show for it but security guards who will now need ADDITIONAL PAID SWORN LAW ENFORCEMENT standing with them to validate actual security.
Now to the present. Just recently WNCT TV 9 has attempted “again” (The second time in less than 3 months) to tarnish the integrity of my office with half truths and shotty field reporting. I sent out a news release less than two weeks ago spelling out the statutory responsibilities and authority of the Office of Sheriff with respect to courtroom versus courthouse security and explaining most of the questions that I am now “again” explaining in this article, however channel 9 instead chose to “again” try to create controversy and “make news” instead of reporting it. On their July 6th courthouse security news article the reporter stated : “There are 6 Beaufort County deputies assigned to the courthouse, yet the Sheriff “now” says they will only protect the courtrooms”. This is intentionally misleading and was addressed in the news release I had sent out earlier. The reporter also stated : “Sheriff Coleman has defended his stance, saying that law only requires his office to provide bailiffs, not courthouse security. Yet the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association website says departments are responsible for security including “taking the necessary steps to protect citizens and the people who work in and around the county courthouse everyday”. “Again”, this statement from the reporter is intentionally inaccurate and untruthful. The website is speaking of “courthouse training” for Sheriff’s Offices that already have agreements with counties and are conducting or planning on taking on courthouse security and the Sheriff’s Association is offering that training to the Sheriff’s of the State. The website actually states : “The Courthouse security includes more than just making sure the people and proceedings inside a courtroom are orderly. Courthouse security includes taking the necessary steps to protect citizens and the people who work in and around the county courthouse every day. “The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association Courthouse “Security Training” helps Sheriffs and Sheriff’s personnel prioritize and assess the interior and exterior building, grounds, and the emergency plans of the courthouse for effective security measures”.
As you can clearly see the reporter has copied and pasted just the center of that statement from the website in an attempt to “again” discredit the statements I made earlier in reference to the law and to bring into question my integrity and trust that I have earned from the people of Beaufort County. I also truly believe channel 9’s intentions are to “create” more controversy and misinformation for future news stories.
Now, last but not least, Beaufort County Commissioner Jerry Langley was interviewed on video tape and the interview was aired on WNCT TV 9 and also put on their website. Commissioner Langley Stated : “The Sheriff should protect “his” courthouse”. He also stated : “I’m upset that the Sheriff’s Office is “now refusing” to provide assistance.” He also stated : “What the Sheriff is trying to do is make sure the security fails and we (The County Commissioners) have to resort back to them (The Sheriff’s Office) after they rejected it”. These statements by Commissioner Langley are untruthful, misleading and deceitful. Commissioner Langley knows and has been advised by myself in open meetings, by my Chief Deputy, and other county commissioners about everything that has been discussed in this article. Commissioner Langley stated that he is upset with me, but what he is actually upset about is the fact that election time is in November and he and 4 other county commissioners created this mess and are now embarrassed and trying to hide the facts by doing what most liberals do in situations like this, to lie, wag the dog and attempt to blame everyone else for their mistakes and blunders.
