The Criminal Interdiction Team (CIT) was reinstated in December of 2018 and a full-time Substance Abuse Counselor was added at Detention Center in 2019.
The number of overdose deaths in Randolph County have continued to increase significantly over the past five years. The Randolph County Board of Commissioners held an opioid forum on August 18, 2017, to make others aware of the crisis and the effects it was having on every County department/agency. Sadly, prescription drug misuse and abuse is how many people get addicted and when they can no longer get it in prescription form, they turn to accessing medication illegally or illegal substances from the street. Others that start out with illegal substances typically take them out of social pressure or to “feel good” and then become addicted. The demand has increased and trafficking these drugs in from other countries has become a big business.
Sheriff Seabolt and staff have taken a three-prong law enforcement approach in an effort to reduce the amount of drugs getting into the hands of our family members.
- First we must continue to enforce the laws. The approach to this problem is targeting drug dealers. Sheriff Seabolt re-instated the Criminal Interdiction Team that concentrates on the trafficking of illegal drugs in and through our county. This team works closely with the Vice and Narcotics Division which enables more information of possible drug violations. This collaborative effort with surrounding agencies has produced many drug seizures, money seizures, gun seizures and arrests.
- Second, we must provide education and awareness as to the harmful effects of drug use.
- The third, the Sheriff’s Office is supporting efforts to open a long-term treatment facility for addicts to reduce recidivism at the detention center and reduce property crimes committed by addicts. Also, a counselor has been placed in the detention center to guide addicts in a direction of hope. The counselor communicates with the addicts by providing information of programs and assistance they can seek for help with this problem. This gives us an opportunity to prevent the continuous cycle of recidivism that comes with drug use. The counselor is provided to our detention center by Daymark Recovery with no expense to our budget. Daymark has also agreed to allow another counselor to work part-time at our detention center to help with this process. Both positions are funded by Sandhills through Community Reinvestment Funds at no cost to our tax payers. These counselors also address mental health issues.