Sheriff: Scanner will increase safety

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis urged a “get-it-done” spirit Monday, saying time was of the essence in buying and installing a body scanner his office is helping fund for the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office.

“We don’t need to wait one day longer than necessary,” Tillis emphasized during brief remarks at the Sheriff’s Department.

In a quaint, private setting, with only a handful of detention center staff, law enforcement officers and residents in attendance, Tillis and Sheriff Jimmy Thornton talked candidly about applying for and receiving $220,000 in federal funding from Tillis’ office.

That money, along with $150,000 secured from the state, will help to purchase a body scanner that detects both metallic and non-metallic threats, including weapons, drugs, cell phones and other contraband suspects might bring into the Detention Center area.

Thornton called the scanner, which he hopes can be purchased and installed within the next 60 or so days, a tremendous safety feature needed to protect his detention staff as well as the inmates in his care.

“It is my job to protect them all … all of my staff, my officers and, of course, the inmates,” Thornton attested.

In the past, the sheriff acknowledged, there have been “many times” when such contraband has gone undetected, posing a severe risk to the detention staff and other inmates.

Thornton spoke openly about an incident last year where an arresting agency brought an offender to the Detention Center for booking who, it turned out, was carrying a weapon.

In the secured lobby area between the Magistrate’s Office and the Detention Center, where suspects wait, Thornton said an officer from Central Control noticed the suspect go to the bathroom and toss something into the commode

It turns out, Thornton said, “he had thrown a pistol in the stainless steel commode.”

He used a news article from a state TV station’s website as an example of how easy it is for suspects to hide weapons, drugs and other contraband. In that article it highlights two Halifax County inmates in less than a week found with a handgun at that county’s detention center.

“During the booking search,” the article from WRAL-TV noted, “detention officers found a .32-caliber handgun on the suspect along with 8 grams of crack cocaine.” The article further stated that a week before, deputies in Durham booked a suspect after another agency arrested him and, during that booking, found him in possession of a loaded gun.

“We are human; things happen. We assume too much sometimes,” Thornton said. “We think we do the right thing but humans can make mistakes. What’s more, suspects can hide things in their body cavities, and we can only search so far.”

The body scanner will help eliminate the human errors that can occur and, at the same time, increase the level of safety for everyone.

“This equipment will be state-of-the-art, like what they have in airports. Not only will it tell us when someone is hiding a weapon, but it will tell us if they have drugs on them somewhere. This piece of equipment will be so valuable to us … vital really,” Thornton said.

Getting the grant

The sheriff said the need for the scanner sent him on a search for funding. He did not, he emphasized, ask the county for the money, instead he sought help at the federal and state level.

Enter a former member of the Tillis staff, who Thornton knew. It was that staffer that mentioned the grants and urged Thornton to apply, noting the application process was quickly drawing to a close.

There were no promises, the sheriff stressed, just a call to act as quickly as possible.

“I called Marcus (Sheriff’s Lt. Marcus Smith) and asked him to apply, and he did it right then and there. That’s how much I can count on my staff to do what is needed,” Thornton stressed, nothing that he believed in the mantra “you don’t know if you don’t try.”

The end result was the awarding of the grant.

He praised Tillis and his staff for seeing the need and doing something to help meet it.

“Some politicians pay you lip service,” Thornton said, “but Sen. Tillis came through for us. We can’t thank him and his staff enough.”

And turning to Tillis, the sheriff said, “I don’t forget those who help me. You and your staff have helped the people of Sampson County, my staff and the inmates. We are your ambassadors because you have shown us that there truly are politicians who do help, who do care.”

Tillis turned the accolades toward his staff, saying they deserved the credit for seeing the good in this project.

“In all truth, credit for you getting this funding goes to my staff,” Tillis stressed. “They are the ones who review the applications, and they saw promise in this application.”

The staff from his five regional offices, he said, are charged with letting the people in his district know they are there to help, even if people aren’t asking. “If it makes sense and a community, a city or county agency can’t do it on their own, we will help them.”

While Tillis admittedly does not like what he called “earmarks,” he said as long as the federal government has them in place, he would do all he could to ensure North Carolina gets its share.

“I’d kill the program tomorrow if I could, but until I do, you can bet I’m gonna fight to ensure help for North Carolina.”

He touted the work of law enforcement and particularly pointed out those in the detention center, saying they had the “toughest” job. And he acknowledged that Thornton was correct about the safety aspect of the scanner and who it would benefit.

“It certainly will benefit the staff, as it should, and also the inmates. You know there are some who are bad and will continue to be bad, but there are others who will be in there and come out better. Protecting them is what we must do.”

Tillis said funding the body scanner was an easy thing to support and he urged Thornton to work hard to find the remaining money needed and “get the thing in here. Let’s get this done. If it takes a car wash, let’s have a car wash. This is needed.”

Thornton said he hoped the scanner would be in place within a few months. “I’m hoping 60 days or so,” he said.