NC Attorney General Holds Roundtable with Orange County Law Enforcement

 

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein visited Chapel Hill and held a roundtable with Orange County law enforcement last week. As he’s heard from similar events across the state, the state’s top prosecutor heard about the challenges and changes when it comes to hiring for public safety positions.

Gathered in a conference room at the Chapel Hill Public Library, Stein listened to stories from leaders of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and UNC police departments, as well as the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the county’s EMS division and its district attorney office.

Over the course of an hour, those officials shared their perspectives of a difficult hiring market – not dissimilar to other employers across the country. They detailed their various staffing shortages and percentage of open positions compared to payroll. They told stories of successes and failures of retention for employees. They weighed the benefits and drawbacks of having predominantly older emergency responders joining departments since they’ve received fewer young applicants. Elements like quality of equipment, intimidation of the training process, and evolving perceptions of police were all discussed with the attorney general.

One of those perspectives was from Carrboro Police Chief Chris Atack, who said the department may be able to be fully staffed by the end of 2023. But he said his force has done that by hiring people who are not previously certified, meaning Carrboro Police had to allow for eight months of training before those hires were able to operate as officers.

“In the last 16 months, we’ve hired roughly 20 percent of our police force,” Atack told 97.9 The Hill. “We’re 39 positions [total], so that’s a chunk.”

In the past, it was more likely to find candidates who were either previously officers or who expected to be officers at the department for a long time. Now, Atack said it’s more likely that a new officer will stay for 18-24 months than staying for five years in the police force. Transitioning from primarily seeking veteran officers to taking candidates without training took a distinct shift in the department’s hiring mentality, said the Carrboro Police Chief.

Another shift in mentality is prioritizing what services can be offered to staff, according to the local public safety leaders. While always part of a job pitch, the quality of a workplace environment now must be particularly strong for first responders to outweigh amenities of other industries – and the stress emergencies can create.

Stein cited Chapel Hill’s police department as being a leader in offering and normalizing mental health access for its staff.

“One thing that Chapel Hill Police is doing is providing a lot of services to their officers, [specifically] health and wellness programs,” he said. “Being a law enforcement officer is incredibly stressful – sadly, [they have] a high suicide rate because of the weight we put on their shoulders. But if you give them the services they need, it keeps them healthy and much more engaged in a productive way [for] their work.”

Chapel Hill Police Chief Celisa Lehew said during the roundtable that her department has found success in hiring not just from the resources it offers, but how it presents aspects of the job. She said their goal is to “tell a different story” regarding what people can get out of policing – which Stein agreed with. He said he thinks using those perspectives to hire young people is “essential” to the long-term health of the public safety industry.

“There’s a real worry that in a few years after a wave of retirements,” the attorney general said, “[police departments] are going to have huge gaps and a lot of vacancies they have to fill. So, we’re going to have to be creative to get those young people into this honorable profession.”

Atack said he also believes it’s critical to have younger staff in the wings for many public service roles in communities. With the broader change in how people engage with and do their work, he said important positions for local government may continue to see dips in their hiring pools as other jobs become prioritized. It’s a challenge he sees on a broader scale – and a reason he said he appreciated Stein’s listening to public safety leaders’ thoughts.

“You’re talking [hiring shortages in] frontline people, it’s not just law enforcement,” said Atack. “You’re seeing it in your firefighting, you’re seeing it in your EMS [response], you’re seeing it in your teachers. What does public service look like in the next few years? That’s a statewide, nationwide challenge.”

Another part of Wednesday’s conversation was local response to opioid abuse and the opportunity of using another wave of state fund. Stein’s office sued pharmaceutical companies for their role in worsening the country’s opioid epidemic, landing North Carolina more than $737 million paid over 18 years through a landmark settlement in 2021. The state government sent its first wave of funding to counties in 2022 and Orange County created its Opioid Advisory Committee to present suggestions for how the local government can use its $6.8 million in funding.

The day before Stein’s visit, the Board of Orange County Commissioners approved four initiatives to fund with its first batch of settlement money. The county’s Lantern Project, which was previously funded by federal resources, picked up funding for the upcoming fiscal year, as did the NC FIT program. The board also allocated money for two positions at the Freedom House Recovery Center in Chapel Hill and to purchase more naloxone and fentanyl testing strips for first responders.

Stein complimented Orange County on its local response to opioids prior to the settlement funding and said he’s sure even more will be accomplished with the upcoming second funding wave.

“This new wave of money is going to essentially allow us to double the impact of the first wave that came into the state last year,” he told 97.9 The Hill. “As a result, there are going to be more people alive and healthy in the future than there otherwise would’ve been. More people would die but for this money. Because when you give dedicated people like [Criminal Justice Resource Director] Caitlin Fenhagen and the entire operation here in Orange County more resources to do the work they want to do, they’re going to save lives.”

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