Outgoing Wake sheriff reflects on career: 'I can't complain at all'

Harrison's 16-year run as sheriff ends next Monday, when Sheriff-elect Gerald Baker, who upset Harrison in the election three weeks ago, is sworn in.

"I look back at my career and I'm happy," Harrison said Wednesday as he reflected on his time in office. "God has blessed me to work with such fine people that I've worked with and be able to be the sheriff of the largest county in this state. I can't complain at all."

The 72-year-old also spent 26 years with the State Highway Patrol and said he isn't quite ready to slow down.

"I stay on the go too much. I've always done it, and that's been my life," he said.

Many of the clothes in his closet still have tags on them, he admitted, because he always preferred to wear the Sheriff's Office uniform when at the office.

In recent years, law enforcement nationwide has faced closer scrutiny regarding profiling and excessive force, and the Wake County Sheriff's Office hasn't been immune to that.

Likewise, Harrison stands behind the federal 287(g) program, which partners local law enforcement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the immigration status of people booked into the jail.

"We don't go out and ask people, 'Are you foreign born? Are you undocumented? Are you documented.' We don't do that," he said. "This 287(g) program only comes into effect when a person is charged with a crime and comes to our jail.

"A lot of people want to play that game that we're here to split up families. That's not the truth," he added.

Harrison recalled one case where the program helped find the real name of a man who had given Raleigh police officers a fake name when they pulled him over and charged him with drunken driving.

"We found out his real name. He was wanted for child rape and molestation right here in Wake County," the sheriff said. "Had we not had 287(g), he would have walked the streets."

Child victims hold a special meaning for Harrison. A picture of Michelle Young sat on Harrison's desk since 2006, when the pregnant mother was beaten to death in her home while her 2-year-old child was there. Her husband was later convicted of murder.

"With the child there, it was just bad, it just hit home with me," Harrison said. "Our guys did such a good job, and it was a hard case."

Harrison said he is proud of creating the Citizens Well-Check program for seniors, the Project Lifesaver program for people with disabilities and camps for at-risk youth, as well as boosting the K9 program and the drug unit in the Sheriff's Office.

He also is proud of his staff of deputies, detention officers and civilian employees.

"I always tell my guys, there are good people out there, people out there that you're keeping safe. That silent majority is what it's all about," he said, adding that not being able to work with them anymore will be difficult.

"They know I think the world of them. They're my family. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough," he said.

But when asked what he hopes people remember most about him as a sheriff, he replied, "That I didn't play politics."

Harrison said he plans to take December off and spend time with his grandchildren before deciding what to do next.

"Come Monday morning and my [patrol] car is not in my yard, I know it's going to throw me into, I don't know what," he said. "I'm dreading that, but I know it's coming and God has a plan for all of us. There is something else for all of us. I know that door will open, and I will just follow his lead."