Sheriff Forsyth Kimbrough negotiates continuation of Juvenile Response Team as he faces pushback on budget request

Kimbrough originally requested money to hire 25 additional deputies for the sheriff's office, who would man the county courthouse and add two additional positions for the JIT unit. But at the end of Wednesday's budget workshop, Kimbrough had to negotiate with commissioners a potential deal in which the sheriff's office would retain a 9-member JIT unit and receive money for a Mini-COP program in the wards rural.

These increases will be in addition to an additional $4.6 million the Sheriff's Office is expected to receive over last year's budget, which is primarily due to increased hourly pay for detention officers and deputies.

The JIT Unit, created by the Sheriff's Office two years ago, responds to calls and criminal investigations involving juveniles while also providing mentoring to youth who have been referred to the Sheriff's Office. In exchange for funding to maintain the unit, Kimbrough agreed to forgo budget money for 10 of the county jail's 38 vacant detention officer positions.

“It’s one of the most valuable units in law enforcement,” Kimbrough said of the JIT unit. “This has taken 168 guns off the street this year and over 5 ounces of fentanyl. I had to do everything I could to negotiate the maintenance of this unit.

Kimbrough, who turned to Facebook last year for financial support to increase recruitment and retention of prison officers, showed up at both budget workshops and attended hours of discussions about school district funding, among other issues.

In a phone interview after Wednesday's workshop, Kimbrough told the Journal that Forsyth County's growing population means the sheriff's office will continue to need more deputies and county-funded jobs.

“A community this size without a JIT unit is overwhelmed,” Kimbrough said. “Ultimately, for a vibrant community to thrive, it must have security. Public safety must be at the forefront of every conversation.

While speaking to commissioners during Tuesday's budget workshop, Kimbrough also referenced several altercations that occurred at the courthouse and noted the increased number of people in the building caused by the N.C. General Assembly's decision to add another upper courtroom in January. This brought the number of functioning courts at the Forsyth Courthouse to 17.

“Right now, as my mother would say, we're robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Kimbrough said of courthouse security. “I bring in people from other divisions to cover the courtrooms.”

Currently, the county contracts with Allied Security to provide security guards who man metal detectors and entrances, but sheriff's deputies are positioned in courtrooms and monitor the building's hallways.

There are currently 30 deputies assigned to the courthouse, meaning there are one and a half deputies for each courtroom, according to the sheriff's office. A Sheriff's Office staff member told commissioners they need four people in each of the courtrooms to keep things efficient and safe.

A county-funded study on courthouse security, conducted by Atlanta-based CGL Companies and released in September 2023, recommended a staffing model with 37 full-time deputies to staff the courthouse. In the interview portion of the study, courthouse staff expressed concerns about the occasions when the court security officer must leave the room during a hearing to retrieve a defendant from custody or respond to another situation.

Others shared that during some hearings, a single court security officer is not enough to man the courtroom. Although most staff members interviewed for the study said allied security guards were a plus, some questioned their usefulness because they rarely handled conflicts or situations without the intervention of deputies.

Kimbrough's request for more deputies at the courthouse was met with resistance from Forsyth County Board Chairman Don Martin.

“I hate to say it, but I can't even imagine doubling the number of deputies in the courthouse from what we have today,” Don Martin said. “And why we need four deputies in a courtroom that doesn't sit every day anyway. This will result in many people being assigned different places or doing different things.

Kimbrough disagreed and said that currently security at the courthouse is average at best.

“Once you start cutting corners on security, you're heading down a slippery slope,” Kimbrough said. “In the times we live in, I wouldn’t want to change that.”

He also added an example that the sheriff's office had to pull other deputies from different assignments to ensure there would be five in the courtroom during a recent capital murder trial. capital punishment.

“You’re not going to convince me and I’m not going to convince you,” Martin replied.

Martin also questioned the sheriff's office's request for money for the JIT unit, which ran out of its initial ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding on June 30. The sheriff's office initially requested funding for 11 full-time deputies, which would add two additional positions, but ended up negotiating to retain 9 deputies from the JIT unit.

Kimbrough opened his speech to commissioners Tuesday by recounting how deputies from the JIT unit stopped a juvenile from entering a school with a gun and also described how he spent Saturday morning with the same deputies supervising young men at the sheriff's office.

Kimbrough compared the importance of the JIT unit to the invention of the cell phone and said it was something they couldn't live without.

In response to Kimbrough's request, Martin said he wanted more data to support Kimbrough's anecdotal confidence about the unit.

“Sometimes the research doesn't capture what they do on Saturday mornings, in churches or at funerals,” Kimbrough said, referring to the unit's emphasis on relationship building. “Every Saturday morning, they are there with me to supervise young men. I don't know how you measure that.

“You measure them staying out of trouble,” Martin said. “If you only work with 25 [juveniles], there are many young people in this community. You want to display the discounts of X.”

Commissioner Tonya McDaniel expressed confidence in the JIT unit, but said data would be needed for county staff.

“I don’t need to see the data because I’m in the community with you and your JIT team and I see it every day,” McDaniel said. “I don’t need to be told.” But for our staff, we need data to make informed decisions.

County commissioners are expected to decide the final budget at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Forsyth County Government Center at 201 N. Chestnut Street in Winston-Salem.