“Each township's concerns are different,” he said today.
(The Hollister meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the EMS building on Highway 561. The next meeting following the one in Hollister will be scheduled in Littleton in November)
Across nearly every community is the concern about drugs. “That's all of the areas,” he said.
On the more populated north end, there tends to be more crime. “Drug use is heavier on the north end. Drugs are everywhere. I'm a realist, we will never rid it, but we are doing our best to slow it's progress.”
Heroin in particular is a problem first noticed in the Scotland Neck area. “It's the proximity to Rocky Mount and Tarboro. We have specific targets we are constantly monitoring.”
Tripp said one of the problems unique to the southern end of the county has always been issues with response time. “We were able to re-evaluate and reassess and put more deputies on the south end. With the judicial district being combined we lost a DA and a judge which means there's less courts. We were able to take the deputies assigned to court and put them on the road. That's four more deputies, from seven to eight, and my immediate goal is to have 10 deputies per squad.”
The meetings are important, the sheriff said, because of the expanse of the county. He compares the stretch of the county to the often-used From Murphy to Manteo phrase by using from Hobgood to Littleton — 64 miles — and from the Gaston Bridge on the Halifax County side — Highway 48 — to the Nash County line, which is 43 miles.
“It's very beneficial to hear from the people I'm serving,” he said. “Who better knows the issues than the people themselves. This is a way to be proactive, accessible and available. We listen and see what can do.”
