New Hanover sheriff’s candidates discuss transparency, jail population, and more in forum
The New Hanover County NAACP hosted a forum on Wednesday night for the candidates for sheriff to share their thoughts on important issues.
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover County NAACP hosted a forum on Wednesday night for the candidates for sheriff to share their thoughts on important issues.
There are three candidates for sheriff. Two democrats Kelvin Hargrove and incumbent Ed McMahon and one republican Matt Rhodes. The NAACP is a non-partisan organization and all candidates were invited, but only Hargrove and McMahon participated.
One of the questions posed to the candidates addressed the number of people in the jail. Would you support issuing citations rather than arresting individuals for minor offenses to keep more people out of jail pretrial?
“By signing a citation a person promises to appear in court. I think that it is so important. We have to be intentional about choosing when to issue those citations and when to make an arrest because we can restore trust and build relationships,” Hargrove said.
“For the past five years, we have and I have worked really hard in instructing our deputies to give citations versus arrests whenever possible. That is if the person is not a danger or violent crime, we will issue citations,” McMahon said.
Transparency was a word that came up a lot and how it can be improved at the sheriff’s office. Both candidates agreed that good things are happening currently, but there is always room for improvement.
“It is my belief that the sheriff’s office has the trust of the community, the majority of the community,” McMahon said. “We hold the Citizen’s Academy twice a year. It’s 11 weeks, every Tuesday night from 6 pm to 9 pm where we invite citizens in to see and become a part of the sheriff’s office.”
“A lot of people don’t know that some things that affect them are the laws that they don’t understand and we need to have more educational sessions with our community to let them know what some of these laws are and what they mean to their community,” Hargrove said.
On the topic of transparency, the use of force was brought up as well. When the candidates were asked if they would release information to families and communities seeking answers when people are injured are killed during an interaction with police, their answers were similar.
“With releasing information on criminal cases that may be still open it’s probably very hard to release certain information,” Hargrove said. “Whatever information the law allows us to release, will definitely get released. We don’t want to get ourselves in a bind and release more information than the law allows us.”
“If a deputy does something that could be considered criminal and anytime we use deadly force, the State Bureau of Investigation is called,” McMahon said. “We have body-worn cameras, I was one of the first to initiate body-worn cameras, the cameras are there. Any information I’m allowed to give to families, I always give, always. I’ve always been like that, I will continue to be like that.”
To watch the forum in its entirety, visit here.
