After reading complaints about drugs and violence that were recently voiced by citizens at a Dobbins Heights Town Council meeting, and in preparation for traditionally high summer call volumes, members of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department Special Response Team decided to do some volunteer work.
“We got to talking about it in our monthly training session Tuesday,” said SRT Commander Robbie Taylor. “People don’t understand how stretched out we are. It’s hard. But we understand that the budget’s tight.”
The SRT has 16 active members; 14 Sheriff’s deputies and two Hamlet police officers.
“Every one of them has volunteered to come out and work for free as much as needed, as often as they can,” said Taylor. “Not just in Dobbins Heights but all over the county. This is not just directed at one area. We want to increase the safety of neighborhoods with a lot of criminal activity in Ellerbe, Norman, Rockingham, East Rockingham and Hamlet. And we’ll actually also be going to areas where they don’t have any trouble. Everything, really.”
According to Taylor, the SRT’s duties are almost identical to those of a S.W.A.T. team. They’re tactically trained to handle intense emergencies. Try-outs are required, and making it on the team is a “pretty big honor.”
“These guys have to go through several week-long schools and we have training every month. We try to be ready for any situation that occurs: Snipers, hostages, automatic weapons, room-clearing, building-clearing, active shooters...”
The team also does plenty of heavy surveillance and undercover drug operations.
“Drug dealers have nothing to do and nowhere to go; they hang out and start ganging up,” said Taylor. “We’ll target those areas to keep them from bunching up and grouping up, We’ll be looking for guns, looking for drugs, looking for people with warrants on them.”
“We want to try and prevent crimes from happening.”
Taylor said SRT officers will spend most of their time on aggressive patrol in easy-to-spot “Class A” tactical uniforms - which include bulletproof vests. Drug and surveillance operations may involve plain clothes and unmarked cars.
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” said Mayor Antonio Blue, who added that he is currently looking into grant funding for more permanent police protection.
According to a report from Richmond County Sheriff Dale Furr, his department has received 63 emergency calls from Dobbins Heights since the beginning of the year, with an average response time of 8.7 minutes per call. Of the 27 non-emergency calls, the average was 9.5 minutes.
Furr said traffic enforcement will increase as well. License checks are designed to deter drunken driving and allow officers to spot breaking-and-entering suspects, among other things.
Taylor said the fact that his team is willing to take time that they could be spending with their families - and spend it serving the county - is proof of their dedication.
“I’m hoping that we make a really positive difference,” said Taylor.
“We want to make neighborhoods safer for the good people.”
But... I have one question. Tight budget? When I volunteer I have to use my personal vehicle to go to the place I will be volunteering and I have to pay for the gas out of my pocket. Will these law enforcement officers be using their personal vehicles and paying for gas out of their pockets? Or, will they be filling their tanks with gas paid for by taxpayers dollars and using the county vehicles paid for with taxpayers dollars? Seems to me that if there is a tight budget and you are volunteering, you would use your personal vehicles.