Sheriffs’ association names Atkinson to VP post

Edgecombe County Sheriff Clee Atkinson will help lead the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association as one of the group’s three vice presidents for 2024-25.

Members elected Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson as president, McDowell County Sheriff Ricky Buchanan as first vice president and Atkinson as second vice president. Stanly County Sheriff Jeff Crisco was elected third vice president, Stokes County Sheriff Joey Lemons will take over as secretary and Cabarrus County Sheriff Van Shaw was reelected to the treasurer role.

Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell, who served as president for 2023-24, was named chairman of the executive committee.

Atkinson is serving his second full term as sheriff. Edgecombe County commissioners appointed him to succeed retired Sheriff James Knight in the spring of 2017. He won the job handily in 2018, receiving 83.6% of the vote, and was unopposed in his 2022 reelection bid.

A Wilson native and Fike High School graduate, Atkinson joined the N.C. State Highway Patrol in 1997 and was assigned to Edgecombe County.

“As a trooper, my duties were really, really limited,” he told The Wilson Times in a 2017 interview. “However, as a sheriff, I’m responsible for a whole mass of people — and it is an honor to be put in that position. It is an awesome responsibility.”

If serving as chief law enforcement officer for a 526-square-mile county and overseeing more than 100 employees wasn’t enough, Atkinson will add to his list of responsibilities in the new statewide role.

The N.C. Sheriffs’ Association represents North Carolina’s 100 elected county sheriffs and their offices, advocating for law enforcement interests and promoting best practices in policing. Officers were elected during the association’s annual business conference, which wrapped up Tuesday.

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