On August 18, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck spoke with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood, about his recent election as president of the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association. This transcript has been edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview here.
Aaron Keck: Significant milestone for Sheriff Blackwood as he was just elected president of the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association. For all the work that he does in Orange County on a day-to-day basis, now he’s got a statewide job as well to add to that. Sheriff Blackwood, thank you so much for being with us today.
Charles Blackwood: Thank you, Aaron. It’s good to be here.
Keck: We will talk about the position, but what are your thoughts about getting elected in the first place? What did you feel like when it happened?
Blackwood: This has been a journey. I obviously became a member of the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association when I became a sheriff. I had done work with the Sheriff’s Association prior to becoming Sheriff. Eddie Caldwell, who is our executive director and legal counsel, and I had become very close friends. He was a Carrboro Police officer for a long time. He went to school at Carolina and became an attorney. He had a very successful law practice. Then, he sold that practice and moved into the position of Executive Director of the Sheriff’s Association. Over those years when I was a deputy, he would call on me periodically for guidance and come up with new policies or whatever. I was invited to become part of a team that developed a program called the Sheriff’s Leadership Institute, which ironically I had to attend after I got to be sheriff. It was interesting when I was sheriff to be able to be in the class that I had helped to develop.
Keck: Did you learn anything in the class?
Blackwood: I actually did learn way more than I thought I would. What is it they say? You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it. So, you run for office and treasurer. Secretary is where I started and then the following year, you move up to the third vice if you are elected. The people that elect you are the other sheriffs throughout the state. The close working relationship that I have with my co-sheriffs across the state I think positioned me well to move up the chairs as we say. I went third chair, second chair, first chair, and then president. This was really special because not only am I being elected to that office by the folks that are my peers, but it happened during the 100th anniversary of the association. That to me is really special because we are planning a celebration of the hundredth year, all year long. It’s a celebratory term of the presidency and I am really excited about it. It is a milestone for me. It is not a finish line, but it’s certainly at the top.
Keck: I was gonna ask if it feels like a culmination of your career, but you’re not done yet.
Blackwood: I’m not done yet. You are exactly right. To be elected sheriff is as far as you can go. I will be the chairman next year. After that, I am always a member of the executive board.
Keck: So what does the role entail?
Blackwood: So, I am the face of the association. I represent the voice of all the other sheriffs. Anytime that a sheriff has issues within their county that may involve legislative change or need for help within the legislative body, it comes to me. Eddie Caldwell and I work together to make whatever change is needed or whatever assistance the sheriff needs. As you might imagine over the last couple of weeks, I have been very busy both with legislative issues, but also we have had some extreme violence against some of our members who have sadly been murdered. When a sheriff is going through trying times, there are not a lot of people that can talk to him or her but another sheriff. I have spent a lot of my last few days in Wayne County, Surry County, and most recently in Wake County.
Keck: Do you expect the job to have a lot of travel?
Blackwood: Yeah, there is a lot of travel. Last Tuesday I was in Wayne County for a funeral, then Surry County for a dinner that night. I think I clocked about 530 miles when I got home. There is travel out of the state. We are going to Indian Wells, California. I will be going to Michigan, to Washington, and wherever else the national association might be meeting. I would say yes, there is a lot of travel.
Keck: I should mention Sheriff Blackwood is the first to fill the president position from Orange County since Sheriff Buck Knight back in 1971. It has been more than 50 years since an Orange County sheriff has filled that role. The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association, as you mentioned, gets involved in legislative activity and advocacy on issues that relate to law enforcement. To what extent do you have an influence over what the Sheriff’s Association’s position is? And to what extent are you just the voice of the consensus?
Blackwood: We have several different committees that take part in that. We have a legislative committee made up of a group of sheriffs. I am on the executive board. Everything that comes up from the committee comes to the executive board for a thumb up or thumb down vote. We have complete control over the direction of the association. Most recently we had an emergency meeting to decide whether or not to offer a reward for this young deputy’s murder. That took an action from us as a committee to make that decision for the association on the part of all the sheriffs of the state. I received a lot of phone calls throughout the day. We announced that there was going to be a meeting on Sunday night. We called that emergency meeting before that meeting. A number of the sheriffs on the executive board called me, and we had discussions about the logistics of offering a reward. Things like how much the reward would be, who it could be issued to, and when we would issue those rewards. When you do something like that, it affects the association. There has to be a consensus.
Keck: Certainly in Wake County and elsewhere, we have had several high-profile issues of deputies being assaulted, or even killed on the job. When several of those incidents happen in a row like that, what are your thoughts as a sheriff?
Blackwood: We are terribly concerned about the acts of violence against our law enforcement. It is understandable at this time and in our history to be frustrated. It is understandable to be upset about things, whether they be at the governmental level, whether you have lost your job, or that bread is not available and gas costs a lot. We do not think that should result in killing police officers who are out here trying to take care of us every day. I do not know of a law enforcement officer who puts on their uniform and goes to work with ill intent in their mind. Certainly not to the point that they should be killed for doing their job. As for the case with that officer over in Raleigh, he stops because he sees a vehicle on the side of the road and wonders if the person needs help to get out of their car. To be shot and killed, assassinated basically, is unconscionable.
Keck: When the legislature comes back into session, what are the top issues that are gonna be on your mind?
Blackwood: We are going to probably approach them and ask them for an enhancement to anyone who uses a firearm against a law enforcement officer. The thought of it is that there is already a crime, but if we make an enhancement that, say an automatic 25-year penalty for using a firearm against a police officer or law enforcement officer, and the judge has no discretion on that sentence, that sends a message. We value the life of our law enforcement officers, and we are not going to tolerate violence against us.
Keck: As we start to wrap up this conversation, what do you see your role being in the months to come?
Blackwood: One of the things we have noticed in the year is we do not know what the year is going to bring us. Two years ago, it brought us COVID. Last year, it brought us three sheriffs who died in office, which was unprecedented. We take whatever comes our way and we act as the voice of the sheriffs across the state. We try to preserve, enhance, and promote the high office of sheriff while at the same time, preserving peace, safety, and public safety within our communities.
Keck: Sheriff Charles Blackwood, now President of the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association first, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Blackwood: Thank you, Aaron, and thank you 97.9 The Hill for keeping us informed.
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