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Americans on all sides want change, but don’t want to change
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
Black lives matter. All lives matter. Defund the police. Back the badge. Take it down. Leave it up. Heritage. Hate. Reopen. Stay closed. Biden. Trump.
For the eighth straight week, protests, rallies and demonstrations continued in Western North Carolina, with no signs of stopping any time soon. Regardless of the cause behind them, these events have at least one thing in common — Americans are angry, and they’re taking to the streets.
Despite the commonality, two separate rallies held on the same day last weekend showcase the widening gulf between competing ideologies that both want change, but both point accusing fingers at the other when asked who’s to do the changing.
Before the Saturday, July 18, Black Lives Matter march in Maggie Valley began, several local business owners made known through signage that while protestors were welcome, their cause wasn’t.
“If this group wants to come to Maggie Valley and walk down our sidewalks and hold their signs, I absolutely welcome them, if they do it peacefully because our Constitution protects that right of protest,” said Robert Edwards, owner of A Holiday Motel on Soco Road. “I haven’t individually talked to anybody representing that group, but the group that they call Black Lives Matter at large, there are probably a lot of people that are marching with that group that have good reasons, but the group in my opinion is not exactly having the best intentions across our nation.”
The sign outside Edwards’ motel said, “BLM incites racism & violence. All lives matter. One love — all humanity.”
Dylan Davis, who helped organize the BLM march — he’s also been out in front of similar events in Waynesville and Canton — wouldn’t quite admit that the sometimesviolent actions of BLM protestors nationwide give business owners like Edwards ample cause for concern, but did say his group has proven through previous marches that they’re not out to riot, loot or damage local businesses.
“We’re just here trying to be peaceful. We’re all here for the same cause, but we don’t follow some of the same principles [as other BLM groups], said Davis. “People can have their own opinions, but we’re here for a good cause and we’re here to do it peacefully.”
As a torrential downpour took shape, Davis and about 30 others began their march from Town Hall up the sidewalk on Soco Road, with Maggie Valley Police Department officers in tow.
Inexplicably, their route took them right past the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds, where perhaps a hundred counterdemonstrators had lined up, waiting for them, within arm’s reach.
Waving Confederate flags, Trump banners and “all lives matter” signs, counterdemonstrators shouted, screamed and spat on marchers. Several heated exchanges were observed and racial slurs were uttered.
“I’m not sure who he was, but he ended up saying ‘nigger’ a couple times, and the officers heard him and didn’t say anything. I was scared,” said marcher Karley Simmons, of Canton. “Being a Black woman, I knew that things could get physical fast, but there would not be a lot we could do about it.”
The march continued east on Soco Road for a few more blocks until crossing the street and heading back from whence it came, again inexplicably right past that same seething gauntlet of counterdemonstrators, who had already crossed the street and were waiting for them.
This time, there was a lot more engagement between the two groups, as bullhorns blared and thunder rumbled and rubberneckers in traffic stopped to watch. As the BLM group marched on, beneath the dark grey skies, several counter demonstrators attempted to follow the group. One man took to harassing media covering the event, chalF
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A counter demonstrator who gave his name as Todd Barone addresses BLM protestors in
Maggie Valley on July 18. Cory Vaillancourt photo
More than 200 people turned out to an Armed Patriots/pro-Trump/Second Amendment rally in
Bryson City on July 18. Cory Vaillancourt photo
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BLM demonstrators dialogue with counterdemonstrators in Maggie Valley on July 18. Demonstrators return to Maggie Valley Town Hall (below)
upon completing their march. Cory Vaillancourt photos
lenging Mountaineer reporter Kyle Perotti to “join the military.” Perotti, a Navy veteran, told the man he had. The man told Perotti “you’re violating your goddamn oath” and called him a “scumbag.” The man then turned his attention to this reporter, offering vulgarities and lunging toward the camera in a feeble attempt at physical intimidation.
“I think for a lot of our protestors, some of them being young women, some of them being Black, I can’t imagine how they felt,” said Josh Merrell, who is white and lives in Waynesville. “The intimidation could have affected us negatively, but I think it gave us all a jolt of spirit.”
And they’d need that jolt; as the march concluded, many were stunned to see the Town Hall parking lot where it had started full of counterdemonstrators, waving Confederate flags.
What would have been a series of speeches by BLM marchers quickly turned into an o hours-long series of shouting matches between demonstrators and counterdemonstrators, who were separated by a contingent of more than a dozen law enforcement officers that had grown to include personnel from the Haywood County Sherriff ’s Office and the Waynesville Police Department.
“When we were organizing this, we had multiple business owners tell us they don’t support it, that [racism] is not a problem in Haywood County, that we need to go where it actually is a problem, in the bigger cities,” said Simmons. “That just goes to show that they don’t want change. There is a problem.”
A post on the Communities for Change Facebook page vowed that the BLM marchers would be back in Maggie Valley, on Aug. 1, “due to the events that had unfolded on Saturday.” F our hours later and 30 miles away, another rally was shaping up in sunny Bryson City — this one labeled by its organizers as an “Armed Patriots/proTrump/Second Amendment” event.
More than 200 people showed up, many of them armed, including a contingent of 3 percent militia members in full battle rattle. Across the street, a small group of counterdemonstrators waved signs.
“I just wanted to show the other side of the coin, and to make people that live here and visitors realize that there is another side,” said Kathy Petersen, of Bryson City.
With her was Rick Wirth, also of Bryson City.
“I feel that Trump is a real danger for this country, and Biden represents stability and progress,” said Wirth, who was holding a pro-Biden sign. “We can’t afford four more years of Trump. We need to bring in a new man to set things right.”
Unlike the counter demonstrators in Maggie Valley, Petersen, Wirth and the other half-dozen standing alongside them
didn’t engage with the rally, which featured speakers including Swain commission candidates Robert Lowe and Graham Allen, as well as former Rep. Mike Clampitt, who’s once again seeking his District 119 House seat.
Also unlike Maggie Valley, absent were the face-to-face confrontations that resulted in many an ugly incident.
Swain County resident Patrick Smith, who helped organize the event and also spoke, told SMN that this rally, too, was about change, but given the rally’s focus, it’s certainly not the change the BLM folks were pushing.
“I’m tired of people complaining and nothing getting done. I’m tired of looking around and seeing things changing that I don’t like, and I’m tired of people complaining about changes that they don’t like but not doing nothing about it, so my goal is to push people to do something,” Smith said. “We can’t be silent anymore. Things are going to change with or without you and if you want to change it, get out there and do it.” PICK BLUEBERRIES NOW PICKING! LOCAL YOUR OWN 78 Medallion Dr.
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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers less than two months ago has added new fuel to the long-simmering debate over criminal justice reform.
In addition to now-common discussions over pretrial incarceration, mental health resources and substance abuse treatment, advocates of reform are perhaps for the first time taking a serious look at policing itself, and they’re demanding radical systemic change.
Whether those demands are practical or beneficial for Western North Carolina communities will be argued for the foreseeable future, but it all comes down to one simple question.
What does it mean to “back the badge?”
Over the past few weeks, writers at The Smoky Mountain News delved into that very question, utilizing extensive public records requests and interviews with the region’s top law enforcement officials.
Beginning this week, we’ll bring readers a series of stories focusing on the context of police reform and the realities behind it.
For example — becoming a police officer isn’t easy, even after extensive basic training is completed, but does that training give cadets the tools they really need to be effective police officers?
Some bemoan a lack of police funding and entry-level salaries described as “disgraceful,” but what do law enforcement officers really make, and what’s the impact of that on the average taxpayer?
Others call for “defunding the police” in favor of social workers or crisis intervention teams, but what would that look like from a public safety standpoint, and does it make financial sense?
The overwhelming majority of law enforcement officials acknowledge the presence of the same “bad apples” that exist in every profession, so why are current public records laws constructed so as to impede accountability?
Our investigation — conducted in conjunction with law enforcement agencies in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties as well as the towns of Bryson City, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Maggie Valley, Sylva and Waynesville — will add facts to a conversation that’s traditionally been long on opinion and emotion.
From all of that, one fact has become exceedingly clear — backing the badge means addressing the systemic shortcomings in policing that sometimes result in deaths like that of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but it also means addressing funding strategies that can result in poorly trained, underpaid, ill-equipped, inexperienced officers being thrust into situations and places most people fear to tread.
Law enforcement training — a constant job interview
BY BOYD ALLSBROOK C ONTRIBUTING WRITER
In light of the recent national uproar over police brutality, law enforcement training has rocketed to the forefront of public discussion. It’s a complicated topic; not merely for the politically charged rhetoric it now commonly evokes, but also because approaches to training new officers vary widely from state to state, county to county and agency to agency. It’s a convoluted process and made more difficult to grasp still when you factor in how agencies emphasize different aspects of training on even a personal basis.
In Western North Carolina, the first step to becoming a law enforcement officer is usually to seek out sponsorship from an agency — generally a local police station or sheriff ’s office. While not strictly necessary, sponsorship acts as a tuition waiver for basic law enforcement training, and also gets a potential LEO’s foot in the door.
However, sponsorship is not a guarantee of employment, said Haywood County’s Chief Deputy Jeff Haynes.
“We sponsor someone and send them to Basic Law Enforcement Training — that does not mean we’re going to hire them,” he said.
It’s worth noting that to even gain sponsorship, a candidate must submit to a partial background check.
The most widely known step in the hiring process is Basic Law Enforcement Training, or BLET. This training can be delivered by many state-certified community colleges — including Haywood Community College and Southwestern Community College — though there are separate academies purely for police training. BLET curriculum — as set by the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Commission and the Criminal Justice Education & Training Standards Commission — covers 36 areas of law enforcement work, including law enforcement driver training, motor vehicle laws, search and seizure, arrest procedure and constitutional law. Haynes emphasized the focus many instructors place on judgment and ethics.
“It’s about your ability to follow direction, your ability to comply with general statutes, your ability to understand the constitutionality of what you’re doing, to understand the magnitude and importance of what’s being bestowed upon you once you do complete this training,” he said.
Over the course of those four to five months, trainees are perpetually evaluated by their instructors and also by prospective employers.
“I always tell new BLET students,” said Haynes, “from this day forward, you are in a constant job interview. Because all of the instructors are also deputy sheriffs and police officers and highway patrolmen that work day to day with the command staff of different agencies.”
Those who successfully complete BLET are eligible to complete the certification process, which involves an extensive written test, physical exam and psychological screening. Only after certification can a candidate enter the hiring process.
There’s a viral claim online that law enforcement training requires fewer hours than other skilled professions, including cos
— Haywood County Chief Deputy Jeff Haynes
metology. This is only partly true: while N.C. BLET mandates 640 hours to Cosmetology’s 1,200 hours, a graduate is in no way finished with their training. BLET is meant to give a comprehensive introduction to police work, but nearly all agencies have a field training program set for their new hires. “Basic Law Enforcement Training and the Detention Officer Course are just that, basic in nature,” said Sheriff Robert Holland of Macon County. “They were set up to provide training to the new officer/recruit in order to prepare them to enter the field of law enforcement/corrections. An agency must have a structured Field Training Program (F.T.O.) in place to properly train an officer after their hire in.”
Haynes described field training as something like an apprenticeship. A newly hired, certified officer — after being subjected to a full background check — shadows a more senior officer or deputy and continues to learn while on the job. Field training is of similar length to BLET, F
BY HANNAH MCLEOD S TAFF WRITER
Innocent people murdered in their own homes, police departments equipped with military-grade weapons, students with school resource officers but not a counselor to be found, district attorneys unwilling or unable to prosecute police who have broken the law — these stories heard across the nation have birthed the movement to “Defund the Police.”
The conversation became national when protests erupted after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Protests morphed from justice for those murdered by the police into a broader discussion about what role the police should play in their communities.
Amna Akbar, professor of law and social movements at Ohio State University, said the idea of defunding the police challenges the prevailing logic of police reform, “the idea that police brutality is caused by individual bad apples acting without sufficient oversight and training … Defunding suggests the problem is not isolated, nor is it a result of a few officers’ attitudes. It challenges the power, the resources and the enormous scope of the police. Whether they are responding to a mental health emergency or deployed to a protest, their training and tools are geared toward violence.”
The complex nature of police work is part of what has led to continually rising budgets. Police are expected to respond to incidents ranging from cats stuck in trees to hostage crises, from unregistered vehicles to homeless folks. A range of responsibilities creates the need for a range of tools, resources and lots of money.
In law enforcement’s defense, it is this broad nature of the work that is perhaps making it more and more challenging for LEOs to do the work they are called to do effectively. Defunding the police is more of a though intensity and duration are contingent on a given agency’s location, the new hire’s experience level and available resources. Only after field training is complete can an officer patrol alone.
The entire training period — from first application for sponsorship to the completion of field training — is designed to be as rigorous and stressful as possible. It’s seen as an arena for prospective cops to react under pressure.
Haynes says while most applicants to the force are well-meaning and morally sound, it takes a special kind of person to do the job consistently and well.
“I very rarely, in my 30-plus years doing this, have seen any moral issues in that time. I’ve seen a lot of judgment issues, just like you could in journalism or medicine or law,” Haynes said. “Everyone’s not meant to be a journalist. Everyone’s not meant to be a surgeon or a teacher. We’re all blessed with certain gifts. We just have to find those gifts and way to reallocate resources in a way that would allow officers to focus on violent crimes while turning over social issue cases to social workers better equipped to handle those situations.
“Campaigns to defund the police and prison system do not argue that every prison should close tomorrow, and every police officer be sacked the day after — they argue that social problems are better addressed through social responses,” said activist and writer Dr. Adam Elliot Cooper.
The conversation and effort to defund the police is intended to narrow the scope of responsibilities police have and reallocate funds to people better suited to certain scenarios.
The money spent on police budgets gives communities the ability to act reactively to crime and other problems. If some of that money were used for education, affordable housing, accessible health care, mental health and addiction resources, some of the problems creating crime could be addressed proactively.
“Defunding the police does not mean an immediate end to policing, but instead investing in social policies that prevent people from experiencing violence and harm in the first place,” said Cooper.
According to the ACLU, 1.7 million children in the U.S. attend a school with police present but without access to counselors. This is a simple yet clear example of how funds could be directed toward a resource students can use for mental wellness and planning for their future.
Police are primarily funded locally, which means local funds could be moved from police budgets to address local issues. There would not have to be one blanket fix. Changes in funding could be very individualized to address the particular needs of each community.
“So much of policing right now is generated and directed towards quality-of-life refine those gifts so that we can produce what we should.”
Entry-level police work is difficult, lowpaying and often thankless. Sheriff Holland described the starting pay in western counties as “disgraceful.” Under years of continual strain, those not truly cut out for law enforcement tend to crack. It’s vital for instructors, screeners and command staff to sort out the wheat from proverbial chaff during the training period — before the job’s strain begins to take a toll.
Both Haynes and Holland feel that the cases of police brutality across the country should be first viewed at an individual level. After all, the most recent data shows that roughly 53 million people a year have contact with law enforcement (Bureau of Justice Statistics); in 2019, only 28 were fatally shot. That’s nowhere close to statistically representative in terms of systemic police brutality. To put that ratio in perspective; lightning strikes the U.S. 25 million times a year and kills an
— Dr. Adam Elliot Cooper
issues — homelessness, drug addiction, domestic violence,” said Ailicia Garza, cofounder of Black Lives Matter. “What we do need is increased funding for housing, we need increased funding for education, we need increased funding for quality of life of communities who are over-policed and over-surveilled.”
In a recent investigative report, AVL Watchdog analyzed 911 calls and requests for assistance to Asheville Police and found that less than 1 percent involved a violent crime. A majority of the calls involved traffic accidents, domestic disputes, loud paraverage of 49 people (National Weather Service). An unarmed American has a far better chance of being killed in a thunderstorm than they do by a cop.
“Each case is different,” Holland said. “I don’t think that all incidents can be isolated to one exact cause. Is the officer experiencing depression? Burnout? How is department morale? Was it in fact police brutality? Was the use of force used by the officer justified but portrayed differently by the media? Each case needs to be investigated and examined on a case-by-case basis.”
“Yes, there are bad law enforcement officers,” added Haynes. “It’s just the human element. I think it is very irresponsible to categorize an entire profession in a sweeping broad statement that everybody is that way. You could say that about any profession. Or any ethnic group. Or any religious organization.”
However, both believe that law enforcement can collectively improve. While fatal shootings are the most devastating form of ties and other non-violent crimes like shoplifting, trespassing and prostitution, according to the analysis of more than two years of 911 calls.
“The reality of policing is that the majority of their time is spent on things totally unrelated to crime,’’ Matthew Robinson, a professor of criminal justice at Appalachian State University in Boone, told AVL Watchdog. “We know that 75 to 80 percent of an officer’s time is spent providing social services and routine administrative tasks like filling out reports.”
Allowing for the reallocation of a portion of police funds could mean money and resources put into social and mental health. This would allow for greater decriminalization and de-stigmatization of people with mental health conditions and addiction problems.
“The demand for defunding calls into question the fundamental premise of policing: that it produces safety,” said Akbar.
According to research conducted by the Brookings Institute, approximately 38 percent of murders, 66 percent of rapes, 70 percent of robberies, and 47 percent of aggravated assaults go uncleared every year. In response to current and past protests, there is an argument to be made that police need more time and resources to do their job well. The defunding conversation is asking the country whether problems can be solved through reallocating some non-violent responsibilities from police to other, bettertrained people. Share their responsibilities instead of piling on more and more money, expecting law enforcement officers to get the job done.
“Altogether, it is clear that municipalities across the U.S. are making changes in line with the defund police movement. So, while the word ‘reallocate’ may be a more palatable, digestible word on the House floor or at a city council meeting, ‘defund’ surely gets more attention on a protest sign. And more importantly, it seems to be having an impact,” said Rashawn Ray of the
Brookings Institute. police violence, they aren’t the only measure of flaws in the system. It’s worth examining racial statistics to this end. A widely published Harvard study found that while there is no evidence to suggest that police kill Black people at a greater rate than white people, African Americans are 53% more likely to be subjected to nonlethal force. This seems damning, though is muddied somewhat by the usual issues of response bias that confound all such research. Data on police violence are as of yet scant, and much more is needed before final conclusions can be made.
“I certainly understand the national concern and the national spotlight that’s been put on law enforcement and I simply do feel that there is always room for improvement,” Haynes said. “I don’t think those complaints fall on deaf ears. I think law enforcement knows that we’re constantly under a micro
TRAINING, CONTINUED FROM 7 scope. And we’re constantly looking at one another and trying our best to police our own because it’s an honorable profession. It always has been and we want to maintain that integrity, and we do that by policing our own. But there are occasions where that doesn’t occur. And those people are either disciplined, or they’re brought to justice and charged criminally, or de-certified, just like any other profession.”
Laura Brewer, communications director at the North Carolina Justice Academy, spoke on some concrete changes to BLET curriculum that are in progress.
“Right now, we are in the midst of a BLET revision based on recent job task analysis. That includes added content related to procedural justice, implicit bias and police legitimacy,” she said. “At the same time, Attorney General (Josh) Stein — who leads the Department of Justice — has been appointed a co-chair of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Task Force on Racial Equity and Police Accountability. We expect that they will review training and may have additional directives as their work continues.”
Sheriff Holland believes the way to improvement lies in strengthening law enforcement’s relationship with its community.
“I believe that the agency as a whole needs to build rapport with the community, involve the community in problem solving (Crime Watch groups, Citizen’s Academies, etc.), and build a relationship that goes beyond the report, file, and investigation of an incident,” he said.
Informed by a tragic incident last year in which one of his deputies killed a man in his own home, Sheriff Holland spoke further on the importance of an educated public.
“I think that educating the community is a must especially when it comes to the laws governing an officer’s use of force. The law is very clear in that it authorizes an officer to use such force that is reasonably necessary to effect an arrest or protect themselves or a third party.”
Chief Deputy Haynes emphasized the importance of rapport with the local community as well.
“Sheriff (Greg) Christopher always said we have to know our communities before we have to know our communities, if that makes sense. And that’s what we strive to do, not because we’re statutorily bound to do that, but because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “When somebody comes into contact with law enforcement, the reason for it is typically because that person is at their lowest, and we don’t want to add to that. We want to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.”
He’s ultimately hopeful about the future of law enforcement in the country.
“I feel like it’s just another chapter of the narrative. It’s another way for us to continually examine ourselves, our training, our processes,” he said. “If we are going to be examined and scrutinized, it’s only gonna do one thing and that’s gonna be to make us better.”
Defund the police or back the badge — either way, prepare to pay
Members of the N.C. National Guard help conduct a training exercise in Canton in 2017. Cory Vaillancourt photo
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER
Competing theories as to the nature of proposed police reform have emerged, with one being that law enforcement budgets should be cut drastically and the other being that they should be increased drastically.
Although both theories have the goal of bolstering public safety, the former proposes to achieve that goal through the reallocation of funding to diversionary programs and alternative policing strategies, while the latter proposes increased training, staffing and pay scales commensurate with the nature of the difficult, dangerous tasks law enforcement officers are called upon to perform.
As local governments, taxpayers and voters begin to look long and hard at which route to take, they’re also looking at the cost implications of the various options included in those theories.
In order to contribute to that discussion, The Smoky Mountain News set out to determine what the approximate cost (or savings) to an average taxpayer would be for the hiring or firing of a street-level law enforcement officer in each jurisdiction of our four-county region.
First, it’s important to note how local law enforcement agencies are funded. Each year, on or before July 1, each of North Carolina’s 100 counties and 532 municipalities must pass an annual budget.
That budget is an expression of the priorities that elected officials deem most important to their communities. In almost every single one of them, public safety is the largest single expense.
As those budget costs are added up, some of the money used to fund the budgets comes from property taxes. In North Carolina, the tax rate is expressed in cents per $100 of assessed property value.
In Haywood County, for example, that rate is 58.5 cents, which means that a home valued at $100,000 would incur $585 in property taxes each year.
For each increase of one cent in that rate, based on both the amount and the valuation of all taxable property, the county would raise approximately $750,000 in new revenue. Conversely, for each decrease of one cent, the county would lose that same amount, about $750,000.
Whatever the rate and valuation, it’s that pot of money that provides the public safety budget, which typically includes a diverse array of administrators, clerical workers and facilities as well as all equipment including supplies, uniforms and vehicles.
Tucked away in there are the actual human costs of maintaining a law enforcement agency — their salaries.
Public record requests made by SMN to local government agencies in our core coverage area began in late June and resulted in the compilation of data from 11 different agencies, including the counties of Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain, as well as the towns of Bryson City, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Maggie Valley, Sylva and Waynesville.
The data include salary information for 383 county and city law enforcement agents in that four-county region. What it doesn’t include are the auxiliary costs related to their employment, like payroll overhead, health care coverage and benefits. Those costs can vary widely across departments per local government unit policy.
The salary information also doesn’t include the cost of vehicles or equipment. It’s simply the gross pay for one year of service from a trained law enforcement officer.
Within those parameters, the 11 agencies surveyed spent a combined $15,439,479 on salaries alone during the last fiscal year. Across 383 positions, F
Tax impact of an average officer’s salary
Property tax rate, cents per $100 value Median home value Annual taxes on median home
One cent of property tax generates about Avg. officer salary, lowest ranks Impact of one avg. officer salary on tax rate, in cents
Annual impact of avg. officer salary on median home taxes
Haywood .......................58.50 ..................$210,241................$1,229.91 ............$750,000 ...............$38,401 ...................0.05 ....................$1.08 Jackson.........................38.00 ..................$242,081................$919.91................$920,000 ...............$33,514 ...................0.04 ....................$0.88 Macon...........................37.47 ..................$206,116................$772.32................$789,000 ...............$34,686 ...................0.04 ....................$0.91 Swain ............................36.00 ..................$176,756................$636.32................$148,000 ...............$32,710 ...................0.22 ....................$3.91 Bryson City...................35.00 ..................$177,513................$621.30................$13,900 .................$39,838 ...................2.87 ....................$50.88 Canton ..........................58.00 ..................$176,118................$1,021.48 ............$49,200 .................$33,676 ....................0.68 ....................$12.05 Clyde.............................45.00 ..................$214,231................$964.04................$3,150 ...................$34,716 ...................11.02 ..................$236.10 Franklin ........................32.00 ..................$170,695................$546.22................$61,300 .................$37,398 ...................0.61 ....................$10.41 Maggie Valley...............43.00 ..................$229,527................$986.97................$37,100 .................$39,343 ...................1.06 ....................$24.34 Waynesville ..................49.57 ..................$219,571................$1,088.41 ............$115,000 ...............$38,483 ...................0.33 ....................$7.35 Sylva .............................42.50 ..................$192,877................$819.73................$42,300 .................$38,321 ...................0.91 ....................$17.47
BY JESSI STONE N EWS EDITOR
Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland stood before county commissioners last week with a heartfelt plea for better pay for his law enforcement officers who are going above and beyond during the COVID-19 Pandemic and ongoing protests.
After years of talking about pay increases for law enforcement and other underpaid county employees, Holland said it’s time to finally take action.
“The last few years have been discouraging for me. I’m supposed to keep my people boosted but I’m at a point in my career where I’m discouraged now,” he told the board. “We know where there’s a problem and it needs to be addressed — the purse strings stop with y’all.”
With everything going on in the world right now, Holland said it’s never been more difficult to be in law enforcement. For perhaps the first time in the county’s history, Holland said his department has 11 vacancies and he’s received only two qualified applications. Some employees have retired, some have moved on to better paying departments and others have gotten out of the profession altogether for more lucrative opportunities.
Holland said it’s difficult to recruit and retain officers when they can make more money working in construction or move to another department to make more money. He can’t fault them for trying to better their lives.
“Just in the last month, my officers were put in the position of standing and protecting people who asked us to be there and said ‘all cops are bastards,’” he said, referring to the Black Lives Matter protest held in Downtown Franklin several weeks ago in response to George Floyd’s murder. “The Franklin mayor that works out to an average salary of $40,524 per officer, from the sheriff or chief of police on down to the newest, lowestranking officers.
That average, however, is far from the full story. Pay varies widely across departments by duty, experience and rank.
The highest-paid official in this fourcounty region is Jackson County Sheriff Chip Hall, who made $113,714 last year. Hall also has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement.
The lowest salary, $25,398, goes to a newly-minted detention officer who’s been with Haywood County less than two months.
But detention officers and sheriffs aren’t presently the law enforcement agents under the most scrutiny — it’s the ones doing the bulk of the enforcement on the road. Removing administrators and detention personnel from the financial equation, along with bailiffs, part-timers, medical personnel, translators and the like, yields an average salary for street-level officers of $33,400.
That, too, varies by department and ranges from a high of $39,343 at the Maggie Valley Police Department to a low of $32,710 and a teacher get up and support that group lifting them up, and that’s what our country is all about, but I had tons of officers there keeping all those people straight.”
In a follow-up response, Franklin Mayor Bob Scott said it’s not unusual for a mayor or other town officials to be present at any kind of demonstration happening in their town. He also had an issue with Holland’s comments about longtime educator and activist John deVille speaking at the rally.
“Holland deprecated a respected long time Macon County teacher before the County Commissioners for speaking at the BLM movement. I heard this teacher give his historical talk on race relations, which was non-political,” Scott said. “Very moving and informative. What the sheriff said about myself is OK because I am an elected official open to any opinions and the right to air them from anyone. I also have the right to rebut it.”
Scott also said he had hoped law enforcement would have had a more peaceful presence at the protest and felt that having deputies in full gear, staked out on roofs of buildings and flying a drone seemed like an overreaction to what was otherwise a peaceful march organized by young people.
From Holland’s perspective, it was all about providing safety for everyone involved and being prepared for anything.
For officers who have to strap on a bulletproof vest, a gun and put their lives on the line everyday, Holland said, they are worth more than $15 an hour. He said there are school resource officers with five or more years of experience making $34,000 a year when the starting pay for a deputy is now $32,000. He has officers who’ve completed degrees and gone to additional training and at the Swain County Sheriff ’s Office.
Thus, the actual cost of one average street-level police officer’s salary to an individual taxpayer within that jurisdiction is a fairly straightforward equation.
Going back to the Haywood County example, if a one cent increase in property taxes generates about $750,000, and the average salary for a deputy is $38,401, the county could theoretically hire 19 more deputies at that salary with a one cent tax increase.
If it did, a homeowner paying $1,229.91 in property taxes on a median-valued Haywood County home ($210,241) would see an increase of $21.02 in property tax payments each year.
That puts the cost of one Haywood County Sheriff ’s Deputy salary at about $1.08 per year, for the owner of a median valued home.
In Franklin, where the median value, tax rate and average salary are all lower than Haywood County, that number is much higher — about $10.41 per officer.
In Jackson County, where the median value is higher, but the tax rate and average salary are lower, it’s about 88 cents per
— Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland
certification with no additional income to show for it.
“I’m discouraged and I’m asking you to fix it. We’ve talked about this long enough — my guys deserve better,” he said. “None of the other (county) departments are expected to lay their lives down for their fellow man like my officers are.”
Commissioner Ronnie Beale, who served as liaison for the sheriff ’s department, said he agreed that something needs to be done, but also agreed that this year’s budget recently passed presented the county with never seen deputy. Those numbers work in reverse, as well.
Defunding the Haywood County Sheriff ’s Office by eliminating 19 deputies — there are only about 29 of them — would save the county about $750,000 on salaries alone and
The salary information doesn’t include the cost of vehicles or equipment.
It’s simply the gross pay for one year of service from a trained law enforcement officer. allow the county to lower the property tax rate by one full cent, shaving $21.02 off of the $1,229.91 property tax bill of the owner of a home valued at $210,241.
Most reform advocates seem to agree that defunding departments isn’t being proposed to save taxpayers money — it’s being proposed to reduce the chances of deadly before challenges associated with COVID-19 costs, which was why pay increases weren’t included.
“This year is the best excuse you’ve ever had, but every year there’s an excuse,” Holland said, adding that he feels inept as he watches other LEO agencies improve their pay scale. “But I can’t seem to get it done.”
Holland has been with the Macon County Sheriff ’s Department for almost 26 years and his salary is $98,262. He’s been sheriff since 2002. On average, his deputies make $34,686
a year plus benefits. interactions taking place.
Whether social workers can accomplish that remains the subject of great debate, but there’s a cost-benefit equation at play there, too. The average salary of an MSW social worker in the greater Asheville market is between $48,000 and $72,000.
Eliminating 19 Haywood deputies might save $750,000 in salary cost, but that would only be enough to hire between 10 and 15 social workers.
In light of those numbers, what’s yet to be seen is the political will either to defund departments and hire expensive replacements with unproven effectiveness, or to call for tax increases to pay for increased law enforcement training, staffing or higher salaries that could attract more qualified candidates.
Either way, when it comes to police reform, prepare to pay.
Sources for this story and the accompanying lists include www.zillow.com and www.salary.com. Law enforcement salary information was provided by each respective local government unit. Tax rate and budget information comes from publicly available municipal budgets.
