Pitt County officials are finalizing efforts to provide security at commissioners and planning board meetings following an announcement by the sheriff that deputies would not work the meetings.
Discussions with a private security firm come nearly a month after the in-house counsel for the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office notified Clerk to the Board of Commissioners Kimberly Hines that deputies would no longer be available to provide security for the two boards after July 1.
When contacted by The Daily Reflector, Sheriff Paula Dance said no deputies were interested in an assignment where a deputy is stationed at the county administrative building. One of the deputy’s responsibilities is staffing commission meetings.
The change came after commissioners approved the 2024-25 budget that did not include a 12 percent raise requested by Dance. The sheriff recived the sam 5 percent raise that all county employees received.
Pitt County Manager Janis Gallagher said she discussed options for providing security with Commissioner Mark Smith, chairman of the board. He recommended reaching out to the City of Greenville to see if its officers could be hired. Gallagher said staff also had been talking with NC Protection Group, a Greenville-based security firm, about providing security at other county locations around the same time.
Gallagher said she reached out to Greenville City Manager Michael Cowin about hiring police officers but was not able to speak with him. “I did look on the City of Greenville website which lays out the process for contracting with city security, which I had not been familiar with. They use a third-party company. After reviewing all my options we went with NC Protection Group,” Gallagher said.
Since 2017, the city has contracted with Extra Duty Solutions to arrange contracts and collect payment for off-duty work undertaken by Greenville officers, according to the city website.
Greenville Police Department Public Information Officer Kristen Hunter said the department could not provide security at a commissioners’ meeting because it doesn’t have jurisdiction at county-owned buildings.
Hunter said there is a mutual aid agreement between the sheriff’s office and police department that the agencies will assist each other during an emergency situation, but in any other case, the agency with jurisdiction must request aid, such as the towns of Winterville and Farmville contracting with off duty Greenville officers to provide security at the Watermelon and Dogwood festivals, she said.
The discussions with NC Protection Group continued and by the week of July 8, a tentative agreement had been reached but a contract had not been signed.
Gallagher and N.C. Protection Group Founder and President Gary Pastor said the goal is to have armed security personnel at work during the July 22 Board of Commissioners meeting.
Pastor said security businesses like his have to be licensed by the North Carolina Private Protective Services Board, a division of the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
“The guards have to go through the same firearms qualification that law enforcement goes through except that we have to qualify with a higher score,” he said.
The security team doesn’t have the authority to arrest people.
“Our job is to be a positive presence to help de-escalate any situation or to help anyone that is disruptive to talk outside. We do not have arrest powers,” Pastor said.
In addition to being licensed in North Carolina, Pastor’s company is licensed in Virginia, Tennessee, Texas and Florida and is in the process of becoming licensed in South Carolina.
Gallagher said the current plan is to employ two NC Protection Group officers at the July 22 meeting at a cost of $47 an hour, the same amount paid to Pitt County deputies who previously provided security.
Gallagher said she had budgeted the $47 an hour rate for meeting security through December 2024. Since the contract involves a service, she is able to sign it without the commissioners’ formally voting to approve the contract.
Private security has been used at county facilities previously, said Chris Barnes, Pitt County’s risk manager. The Department of Social Services uses private security at its human services office on Government Circle and its offices in the Pitt County Administrative Building, he said. Private security also operates the metal detector and does other work at the Pitt County Courthouse.
Gallagher said she knows the issue of security is noteworthy, but she doesn’t want residents to be concerned about its impact on the county’s support for the office of sheriff.
“I wouldn’t want somebody to be informed about the interaction over meeting security and have any lack of confidence in the county’s commitment to public safety, which is its number two priority, second only to education,” Gallagher said.
“Pitt County continues to generously support the operations of the sheriff’s office,” Gallagher said. “I’d like to remind folks that the (sheriff’s office) new administrative building will be completed this month. She has had substantial increases in pay for all of her certified officers. She has a new communications radio system we’ve authorized payment for. She has supplemental funding for vehicles. We’ve included funding in this budget (fiscal year 2024–25) for a new body scanner and a new … inmate checking system.
“I know that sometimes situations like this, people can fill in the blanks and have concerns potentially about the relationship between the sheriff and the county,” Gallagher said. “I just want to assure the citizens of Pitt County that as manager of Pitt County government I will always remain absolutely professional and support the office of sheriff in the best interests of the citizens of Pitt County. We have done this consistently and will continue to do that.”
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