Christmas kindness: Dutch Cove Missionary Baptist Church
Thank you to the wonderful people with Dutch Cove Missionary Baptist Church who once again delivered hand-made treat and gift bags for every inmate and every Sheriff's Office employee. Your example of what the holiday season is all about will touch many people who most likely are in need of some encouragement.
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Clyde Elementary students captured everyone's attention as they surprised us by singing Christmas carols in our lobby
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Cops and Kids shopping day 2017
December 18 was the anticipated "Cops and Kids" shopping day with nearly 50 kids and teens at Walmart in Waynesville. We would like to thank everyone who helps make this event possible each year-- it is truly a joy getting to have this experience!
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Cops and Kids fundraising
Community donations and fundraising efforts resulted in more than $10,000 raised this year for the Cops and Kids program, which provides help to families and children in Haywood County who may need a little extra support
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Secret Santa couple returns!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making the Haywood County Sheriff's Office your site for your incredible toy donations as part of "Cops and Kids."
Mike and Anna Tuziw recently started the non-profit the FATE Foundation, which is aimed at helping children who are in need.
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From the heart: the gift of comfort
We would like to thank members of the Blue Ridge Mountain Quilters in Canton, who recently stopped by our office with a truly special gift of machine-quilted, hand-bound quilts.
Our patrol deputies will carry these quilts in their vehicles to have on hand if they come across a situation where there is a child who needs some extra comfort.
Thank you again to the talented quilters who have taken the time (a lot of time) to transform your generous thoughts into meaningful deeds for Haywood County children!
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COPS Grant will add 4 deputies
The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a hiring grant that will add four full time patrol deputies to the office.
U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose announced Monday, Nov. 20 that hiring grants for community policing officers were awarded to two local law enforcement agencies in the Western District of North Carolina.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program awarded $480,963 to the Haywood County Sheriff’s office to fund the hiring of four officers, and $375,000 to the Statesville Police Department to fund the hiring of three officers.
The two hiring grants will provide local law enforcement with the resources they need to strengthen their ability to fight crime and to protect the well-being of citizens in their communities.
“After waiting for what felt like a great deal of time for the results, we received the good news e-mail in the middle of our weekly command staff meeting,” said Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher. “Everyone in the room was thrilled that this opportunity came through for our office. It was a great moment.”
Sheriff Christopher added that a motto the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office follows wholeheartedly is “we must get to know our communities, before we need to know our communities,” meaning, proactivity when it comes to building trusting, valuable and powerful relationships in the community is a must—instead of taking the approach of only interacting with citizens during enforcement actions or when something bad happens.
As patrol deputies maintain incredibly high call volumes throughout their shifts, these new positions will give tremendous opportunities for more area-specific placement of deputies.
“We will have more manpower to zero in on where some of the big issues are in our communities. We will have a familiar face and regular presence in these areas so that relationship/trust building process will become even stronger,” said Christopher. “This specific placement of deputies will give us greater knowledge of the criminal activity intricacies of these areas, as well.”
The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office was among 179 law enforcement agencies across the nation awarded a combined 98,495,397 through the COPS Hiring Program.
The COPS Office is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by providing grant funding directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to support hiring additional law enforcement officers for three years to address specific crime problems.
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Bringing Loved Ones Home: Project Lifesaver Donation
Representatives with the Alzheimer’s Association of Western North Carolina gave a generous donation of $9,000 recently as a way to help fund a lifesaving program offered in the county. This money was raised by way of the annual Alzheimer's Golf Tournament.
The money is designated for Project Lifesaver, a program that allows Haywood County Sheriff’s Office deputies to use a tracking device to help them quickly find those who have a tendency to wander due to a medical condition.
Details about Project Lifesaver:
The program involves electronic tracking bracelets that can be purchased and placed on people of any age who have a medical condition which makes them have a tendency to wander at times.( From Alzheimer’s, autism, down syndrome, dementia or other conditions).
Studies show 60 % of people with dementia will wander… and more than 1,600 people in Haywood County suffer from some form of dementia.
When a participant of Project Lifesaver becomes missing, the caregiver will call 911 and provide the last known location of subject and clothing description. Communications will notify responding officers.
If participant is going on vacation or leaving their residence for a brief period of time, the caregiver can contact local Project Lifesaver of visiting area and provide transmitter information prior to arrival.
For information about enrolling in project life saver in Haywood County, contact the senior resource center in Waynesville or the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office.
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United States Police Canine Association Excellence Awards: K9 Deputy Randy Jenkins
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Congratulations to Haywood County Sheriff's Office K9 Deputy Randy Jenkins and K9 Lenny for continuing to represent our office in such an outstanding manner.
To read the Patrol and Detection case featured in the Oct. Nov. Dec. edition of the Canine Courier, please read below:
Region 2 - Patrol Case Deputy Randy Jenkins & K9 Lenny Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, NC
On 16 June 2017 at 1600 hrs, K9 Deputy Randy Jenkins along with three other deputies of the Criminal Suppression Unit arrived at a residence to attempt to locate and take a subject into custody for a Probation Violation Order for Arrest.
The subject had a history of running from Law Enforcement. In anticipation of the subject running from the residence, one Deputy located himself across a creek in the wood line behind the residence to observe the direction where the subject would run. One deputy went to the front door and another deputy and Deputy Jenkins went to the back of the residence.
The deputy at the front door made contact with the home owner and was given consent to search the residence for the subject. At this time the subject attempted to crawl through a small window at the back of the residence and was partially out the window when a deputy began giving verbal commands to the subject to show his hands and stay in the window.
The subject crawled back in the window and inside the residence. Deputy Jenkins entered the back door of the residence and met a female inside and asked where the subject was; the female stated he ran out the side front door and another deputy was chasing him.
The deputy in foot pursuit of the subject is also a K9 Deputy and notified Deputy Jenkins that he chased the subject down a mowed path in the field behind the residence and observed the subject run in the creek and into the woods and out of sight; this Deputy stated he did not run in the creek to prevent contaminating the area with his odor. Deputy Jenkins went to his patrol vehicle and removed his K9, Lenny, and placed a tracking harness on the K9 and attached a 20 ft. tracking lead.
Deputy Jenkins went to the last known location of the subject which was at the creek bank. Deputy Jenkins cast K9 Lenny at this location and the K9 aggressively sniffed the bank and entered the creek, continuing to aggressively sniff the water surface while continuing in the direction the subject ran. The K9 continued sniffing the water surface and the banks from side to side.
Deputy Jenkins observed the K9 go approximately 20 feet down the creek and leave the creek and aggressively sniff a small portion of the creek bank where 3 footprints were observed. The K9 reentered the creek and continued aggressively sniffing the water surface while going further into the wooded area. Deputy Jenkins observed the K9 leave the creek and aggressively sniff the bank where it appeared the subject left the creek and entered a field.
At this location there was a woven wire fence approximately 5 foot tall that had fallen over toward the creek and the K9 could not cross the fence into the field due to the fence over hanging the creek. Deputy Jenkins picked up K9 Lenny and assisted him over the fence into the field where the K9 located the track and continued tracking in the field and up a hill.
While Deputy Jenkins and K9 Lenny were tracking, one of the Deputies drove to a location further behind the residence and got out on foot on a gravel road which was in the direction K9 Lenny was currently tracking.
This Deputy Notified Deputy Jenkins of his location and the K9 continued tracking through the field toward the location of the Deputy. As the K9 continued tracking, Deputy Jenkins was notified by the Deputy on the gravel road that he observed the subject at a distance on the gravel road walking toward him and he would stay concealed to attempt to close the distance between him and the subject.
The K9 continued tracking their direction. Deputy Jenkins and the other Deputy with him heard the Deputy on the gravel road yelling verbal commands to the subject and shortly thereafter heard the Deputy deploy his Taser. Deputy Jenkins, K9 Lenny and the Deputy with them ran to their location and found the subject was now in handcuffs and had been taken into custody.
Region 2 - Detector Deputy Randy Jenkins & K9 Lenny Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, NC
On 22 June 2017 at 1630 hrs., Deputy Randy Jenkins along with his K9, Lenny, arrived at a residence to assist Probation and Parole on a Narcotics search of the residence.
Deputy Randy Jenkins deployed K9 Lenny and upon entering the residence, Deputy Jenkins gave the K9 the command to dope seek. The K9 began a cursory search of the residence. At the second room Deputy Jenkins observed a behavior change in the K9 by Lenny aggressively sniffing the air in the room and pull in the direction of several trash bags lying on the floor.
K9 Lenny aggressively sniffed a plastic grocery bag lying on the floor, and due to the K9 being an aggressive alert, the K9 stuck his head in the plastic grocery bag and removed a smaller bag and placed the bag on the floor, held the bag in his mouth and gave a final alert by aggressively scratching the bag while holding it on the floor. Deputy Randy Jenkins removed the bag from Lenny’s mouth and observed the strong odor of Marijuana coming from the bag.
Deputy Jenkins observed a fist sized amount of Marijuana in the bag. Deputy Jenkins removed that bag from the room and K9 Lenny continued his cursory search of the room and Deputy Jenkins observed the K9 aggressively sniff another bag, bite the bag and hold it in his mouth and gave a final alert by aggressively scratching the bag. At that time Deputy Jenkins placed K9 Lenny in an adjacent room and gave the command for the K9 to down and stay.
The room was hand searched and several other bags, and a cooler containing Marijuana were located in the room along with $900.00 cash and a loaded handgun. The K9 conducted a search of the remainder of the residence and Deputy Jenkins observed no other behavior changes or alerts from the K9.
The remainder of the residence and an out building were hand searched and a 12 gauge shotgun was located in the residence and additional Marijuana was located in the out building. A total of 3.162 pounds of Marijuana was found and seized and a total of $1,134.00 along with the two firearms were seized.
The Probationer was taken into custody and charged with: 2 counts of Possession of Firearm By Felon, Maintaining a Dwelling Place for Controlled Substance, Possession With Intent to Manufacture/Sale/Deliver Marijuana, Felony Possession of Marijuana.
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