The continual loss of employees hurts the citizens of Forsyth County in numerous ways. One impact is the years of training and experience lost from those deputies that have been around for a number of years. In tandem, this loss comes at a high cost to the taxpayers financially. Each time a deputy leaves the agency, thousands of your hard-earned dollars have also been lost while training these deputies. When they leave another deputy must be hired and trained.

Many divisions within the Sheriff’s Office are greatly understaffed. Divisions such as patrol, civil, and detention have been undermanned for several years. This results in slow call response times, slow delivery of civil processes, and detention to inmate ratio being at a level that is unsafe for the officers and inmates.

The loss of the Narcotics Division due to high turnover and limited manpower within the Sheriff’s office. There is little doubt that illegal narcotics have an enormous impact on the safety of Forsyth County. Drugs are related to most burglaries and thefts committed because they want to get money for drugs. Also, assaults and domestic violence occur at an alarming rate due to being high on drugs. We can do a better job at detecting, deterring, and interdicting illegal drugs.

The Detention center has been greatly affected from the high turnover rates. We need to focus on reducing high turnover rates of detention staff and personnel and refocus on recruiting and training. We also need to restore the Crime Scene Investigations and give back to the citizens of the county. Top investigators in the state will be another top priority of mine.

School safety has not been high priority in the past. This is very important to me personally and runs close to the heart because I am a single parent raising my son in this community. It is the foundation of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System and the Sheriff’s Office. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office was the creator of the current School Resource Program. I will strengthen our partnership with the superintendent of the schools, school board, and each school within our county.