Pierce looking to future
By John Joyce
Published in News on December 9, 2014 1:46 PM
A new jail, riot gear and possibly an armored vehicle are all part of the newly elected sheriff of Wayne County's vision for the future.
But before anyone accuses Larry Pierce of militarizing his force, it should be noted that Pierce's first order of business is to improve the highway trash pickup program.
"I am going to try to increase our trash pickup program, add on more days during the week," he said.
The program enlists the labor of Wayne County Detention Center inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes.
"I met with our jail and judge committee yesterday and the judges are going to try to assign more community service workers to our trash pickup details as part of their community service projects," Pierce said.
Pierce did not wait to be elected to implement certain changes he recognized early on, most of which had to do with procuring equipment and beefing up patrols, he said.
"As I see changes need to be made, I make them. I didn't wait to be elected," he said.
Pierce changed the hours of some members of the sheriff's office warrant squad, freeing them up to boost patrol numbers, and said he will seek additional money in next year's budget to add at least four more patrol deputies to the ranks.
He said the increase in patrol officers and the orders for new equipment have more to do with the growing population in Wayne County than anything particular going on around the country.
National protests in the wake of police officers in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y., not being indicted after killing unarmed black men in the line of duty have flooded the airwaves in recent weeks.
Pierce said he ordered the new riot gear long before the conversations of militarized police forces and a shoot-first mentality among officers when dealing with black men.
"I don't know if you would call it militarization or not but, we did purchase new riot gear right after I came in as soon as the new budget was approved in this past year. We didn't have any riot gear, and you never know when you may have a situation ... that mimics Ferguson or something like that. You have to be prepared."
Pierce said SWAT team members who conduct high level, high risk entries when serving warrants or taking down drug houses need higher levels of both skilled training and equipment to make sure they come home alive at the end of their shift.
The key, Pierce said, is finding the right balance.
"I think we have got the right balance here," he said. "I am not trying to increase anything other than, I don't know, at some point I might want to look at an armored vehicle for those guys that when they might have to make a high risk entry into an area. I know that Johnston County has ordered one."
Pierce said a Johnston County officer was recently pinned down by a gunman, an incident highlighting the need for such a vehicle.
"The guy was up at a higher level than what the officer was firing down on him. And, you know, we've got a lot of potential here in Wayne County -- we've got an Air Force base, we've got an interstate very close to other interstates, we have a lot of potential of crime activity here that the average citizen does not even realize what goes on and what goes through here."