Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood was a part of the 94th Annual Sheriff Training Conference last week.

Sheriffs from across North Carolina gather annually to share their ideas and processes with one another, to learn together and train on new tactics.

The conference focused on building leadership within each community and standing strong together in response to the negativity towards law enforcement nationwide.

“A lot of people have drawn focus on law enforcement and those programs within the community – or lack-there-of – that builds trust, establish bridges and deal with the societal ills that law enforcement have to deal with on a daily basis,” Blackwood said.

Blackwood said he’s never seen threats against law enforcement simply because the jobs that they do.

“This is the first time that I can remember being involved in any type of law enforcement gathering where so many of our leaders were walking around shaking hands and hugging each other, saying ‘I love you,’ because we realize that tomorrow we may not be there,” Blackwood said.

Blackwood said he hopes that they can figure out a way to reduce crime to minimize contentious interactions in order to create less hate and more unity within the community.

“We don’t go out and create the call, the call calls us. So if we can reduce crime, enable a situation where we don’t have to come to these meetings with blue lights behind us, but rather come together in friendship and helping one another with the problems we see facing us,” Blackwood said. “As a community, I’d like to think we are a bit unique in Orange County and we do have so many people on both sides of the table who are willing to come together and dissolve that space between us and working collaboratively to make things better for everybody.”

The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association also discussed updates on laws and procedures and participated in training with body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras.

Blackwood said he was overwhelmed with the hospitality of the sheriff in Brunswick County and his staff during the conference.

Related Stories
‹
Chatham and Durham Sheriffs, Former Congressman Among Local Dogwood Award Recipients
Sheriff Mike Roberson, Sheriff Clarence Birkhead and former U.S. Congressman David Price are among the latest locals to earn a Dogwood Award.
Bill Defining Antisemitism in North Carolina Signed by Governor
Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday signed legislation that places an official definition of antisemitism into state law, which supporters say could help law enforcement determine whether someone should be charged under current hate crime prohibitions based on race, religion or nationality. The measure came to Cooper’s desk after the Senate […]
Case Heard by NC Supreme Court May Affect How Partisan Officials File Voter Fraud Claims
The North Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday for a civil suit around four voters from Guilford and Brunswick County.
'We Are Part of the Problem': Orange County Sheriff Speaks on Systemic Racism
As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to spur protests and discussion, there is a call for structural change and reform on a national and local level. 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood to hear his thoughts on systematic racism in law enforcement and how we can effectively ‘do […]
Orange County Sheriff Talks COVID, Confusing Orders and Pandemic Politics
Last week, Orange County saw over 100 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total number to nearly 750 cases. On Friday, North Carolina recorded over 2,000 new cases in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began. In light of this, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood to […]
Immigration Bill Focusing on Sheriffs gets Legislative OK
North Carolina Republicans have given final legislative approval to a bill requiring all sheriffs to comply with requests by federal immigration agents to jail inmates they believe are in the country unlawfully. The House voted 62-53 on Tuesday to accept Senate changes to the measure, which responds to a handful of dissenting sheriffs refusing to […]
On the Porch: Stephen Fenberg - What Funded America's Infrastructure?
This Week: Writer Steven Fenberg discovered Jesse Jones was reputedly the most powerful person in the nation next to President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II. As chairman of the federal government’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)—the nation’s indispensable infrastructure bank—Jones initiated and managed massive New Deal agencies that saved and expanded the nation’s economy and then shifted the RFC’s priority from domestic economics to global defense to fight and win WWII. Fenberg told this remarkable story as executive producer and co-writer of the Emmy Award winning documentary film “Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?” that was narrated by Walter Cronkite and broadcast nationally on PBS. Fenberg then wrote the biography “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good.”
Viewpoints: Constitutional Changes Are Rarely Necessary
Constitutional amendments are supposed to be rare. They are supposed to matter. They are meant to alter foundational principles or governmental structure when absolutely necessary. 
On the Porch: Terri Mitchell - Mentoring Women in Tech
This Week: Terri Mitchell is the founder of Accelerate Success, a program to help women develop the confidence, skills, and networks needed to thrive in STEM careers. She is a former IBM executive with more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry. Starting as a graduate of Le Moyne College with a degree in Computer Science, she held leadership roles across hardware, software, and systems businesses, culminating in her role as Vice President and IBM Integration Executive. Following her retirement from IBM in 2018, Terri became a founding member of Triangle Women in STEM and began the Accelerate Success program.
On the Porch: Carl Nordgren - Creativity Can Unite US
This Week: Carl Nordgren is a best-selling novelist, a teacher, and an imaginal cell. After 25 years as an entrepreneur, he taught Creativity at Duke for 14 years. He’s a two-time TEDx speaker and hosts the weekly radio show ‘Exploring your Creative Genius’ on 97.9 The Hill. His calling is to help each of us and all of us grow our creative capacities and develop our entrepreneurial instincts and behaviors, a calling that informed his book "Becoming a Creative Genius (again)". His new book, "Common Ground for US" continues that work and offers new perspectives on governance and policy making for political and community leaders. You can attend his book launch event at Golden Fig Books in Carrboro on June 4, by clicking the show title above.
›