Sheriff rejects Spring Lake's attempt to boost protection

SPRING LAKE, N.C. — Cumberland County Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler has told Spring Lake officials that they cannot have two deputies devoted to patrolling the town.

Butler last month offered to contract with Spring Lake for four deputies per shift, but town officials decided instead to keep the local police force on staff.

Spring Lake officers aren't allowed to investigate crimes or respond to 911 calls. A judge stripped the department of its police powers May 6, following the arrests of two supervising officers on corruption charges.

When Spring Lake rejected the contract offer, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office reduced patrols in the town to two "zone" deputies per shift. The zone deputies also patrol unincorporated areas.

Spring Lake Mayor Ethel Clark asked Butler to consider a smaller force for the town that would cost less, but the sheriff responded in a Tuesday letter that such an arrangement wouldn't be in the best interest of residents or the deputies.

"Your proposed modification of coverage is not only inadequate in response to citizen needs, but presents a clear and present danger to officer and citizen safety," he wrote.

District Judge Beth Keever ordered the Spring Lake Police Department to complete a thorough evaluation of all employees before she would consider restoring the department's policing powers.

Interim Police Chief Gregg Jarvies said it could be 90 to 120 days before evaluations are complete.

12 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 12 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Go swimming and, protect yourself bring a weapon, put crocks in that lake.

streetfightinman
July 9, 2009 1:45 p.m.

The Spring Lake leadership is a joke. The majority of the alderman and clark fought tooth and nail to keep those corrupt officers on the force even when they were told by an independent commision that the previous chief lacked leadership abilities and a backbone. Now they arent listening to the new chief who has made some valid suggestions. I guess the town of Spring Lake would rather pay 30k to each of the 11 officers they have for doing nothing, then firing them and starting all over again. Mayor Clark you ought to work D.C. they love people who are all about paying employees to do nothing.

gandalla
July 9, 2009 11:17 a.m.

Get a gun, protect yourself.

Bob3425
July 9, 2009 11:04 a.m.

So Gregg Jarvies was hired to restructure the PD and then the Board of Aldermen rejected his suggestions? This situation grows more ridiculous by the day. If the elected officials are going to continue to make thier own decisions about the PD then why keep Mr. Jarvies around? The citizens of Spring Lake need to do everything in their power to have these elected officials removed from office. Mayor Clark and the rest of those clowns would do well to step down and hope that a group of individuals who know how to manage a municipality replace them. Sadly, I am afraid the upcoming election will only bring more of the same.

jville
July 8, 2009 7:34 p.m.

HighRisk, I think their budget, according to reporting, don't allow for both. It was either pay for a PD or pay Moose's inflated prices. The council wisely, MHO, decided to keep the PD as the long term solution. If the had paid Moose, they would be at his mercy, as to futher rate increases after August.

wa4mjf
July 8, 2009 6:28 p.m.