The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office will no longer provide security for county board meetings because of difficulties the agency has in filling off-duty jobs, Sheriff Paula Dance said.
Pitt County administrators were notified that deputies will no longer be available to provide security at planning board and commissioners meetings starting July 1.
The sheriff’s in-house counsel Julia C. Petrasso notified county administrators of the change in a June 18 email. No explanation was provided in the email, but Dance explained the decision when contacted by The Daily Reflector.
“Over the past six months we have twice posted an opening internally for an assignment where a deputy is stationed in the county administrative building. One of that deputy’s responsibilities is to staff commission meetings,” Dance said. “So far no one has expressed an interest in that assignment.”
Dance’s office provides off-duty deputies on a contract basis to groups who want sworn officers as security.
“These paid formal contracts are based on staffing availability and are approved on a case-by-case basis,” Dance said. “Many of our contracts are long-term arrangements, such as policing the Town of Bethel, Pitt-Greenville Airport, established construction projects for safety, etc., with the probability of more similar coming soon.”
Dance said the security shifts are usually eight or 12 hours in length per work day. Pitt County Board of Commissioners and Planning Board meetings are usually three hours or shorter.
It is easier to arrange staff coverage for events with a longer contract period because it’s more lucrative for deputies, she said.
The sheriff’s office contract security rate is currently $42.50 but will increase to $47 an hour starting July 1.
County facilities and meetings will still have coverage, Dance said.
“If no deputies are staffing any particular event and a call is received, citing a need for law enforcement, our on-duty deputies will respond rapidly and professionally as they will for any citizen’s call,” she said.
Dance said anytime a deputy is in an official capacity he or she must be under the authority and policies of the sheriff and her office. Deputies cannot legally freelance or operate independently as law enforcement.
“Work as a deputy must be done either as regularly scheduled duty or under formal contracts as an addition to regular duty,” Dance said.
When contacted about Petrasso’s email, Pitt County Manager Janis Gallagher said she will “wait for direction from the Board on how they wish to proceed.”
On Monday, Clerk to the Board Kimberly Hines reiterated that the administration does not have direction from the board of commissioners and “are still working on next steps.”
The Pitt County Board of Commissioners are not scheduled to meet until July 22 because of the Fourth of July holiday and the National Association of Counties conference being held July 11-15 in Hillsborough County, Fla.
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