Out of the shadows: Small town police must handle a lot with minimal resources
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on December 12, 2016 10:06 AM
PIKEVILLE -- In the small town of Pikeville in northern Wayne County, Police Chief Craig Edwins is trying to do a lot with a little.
Edwins has spent 23 years in law enforcement, working first in the Mount Olive Police Department before moving to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. He signed on part-time with the Pikeville police in 2008, eventually joining full-time as a detective in 2015.
In August of 2015, after the departure of the previous chief, Edwins took his position at the head of the department .
At that time, Edwins said, the department had a substantial backlog of unsolved property crimes such as breaking and entering and larceny. Making sure all of the department's information was in order was one of Edwins' first priorities.
"Any time you have a new leader, you have to reevaluate everything," he said. "When you have new staff coming in, going through everything and getting it all where it needs to be takes time."
Edwins' transition to chief came during a turbulent time for the department, as the previous chief's departure was compounded by "personnel issues" which reduced the staff to just Edwins and lead investigator Rodney Jarman.
During that time, Jarman said it was all he and Edwins could do just to keep the department running, let alone pursue past cases. But the duo kept working, and as their staff grew again, they got to work chipping away at the built-up caseload.
A year later, things are looking up.
"In that time, I'd say 85 to 90 percent of those property crimes have been solved," Jarman said. "Pikeville is in a much better place now than it was then."
Working in a small town is both a blessing and a curse, Jarman said. The Pikeville police deal with the same issues encountered by larger precincts, but on a smaller scale. However, they typically have to get by on far fewer resources to get the job done.
"With a small town like this, your budget makes you have to weigh the things you want to do against what you can afford to do," Edwins said. "That can be tough. Thankfully we have received help from the public, several individuals, churches. And we are grateful for anyone willing to help us out."
A smaller budget means a smaller staff, which can leave departments with less leeway when dealing with short-notice issues.
"Where as in a larger department, if there's a stabbing or a shooting, they have eight to 10 officers out there ready to respond to that call," Jarman said. "Here it's one guy. So we need to make sure we train our guys really well so they can be that one guy and handle it until the call goes out and we can back him up."
Jarman himself handles that training, in addition to running the Governor's Highway Safety Program in Pikeville as well as his investigative duties. He and Edwins hope to see the department take a more active role in the town as the staff is filled back out. The Pikeville Police Department currently employs four officers, including Edwins and Jarman. As they move forward Jarman said the people of Pikeville should expect to see more of the police around town, as they work toward expanding their operations.
IN FREMONT
FREMONT -- A scenario similar to the one seen in Pikeville plays out in neighboring Fremont, where Chief Paul Moats has been in charge for five-and-a-half years.
The department is 14 officers strong, four of whom operate full time. Two of the officers work primarily during the "peak days" of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while the part-time employees typically cover weekend day shifts.
Moats said that this set up allows the department to give the town 24-hour police coverage, something that similar small towns do not have and which bolsters the department's presence in the community.
"Keeping the relationship between the police department and the community is big," Moats said. "Everyone knows everyone, and we want to make sure people are comfortable with us and know us so that when we ask them for information, they're more likely to give it to us."
Local business owners have seen that plan play out. Hank Stewart, whose family has run the Fremont Pharmacy for 68 years, said that the Fremont police have done a good job staying active in the community.
At the beginning of Moats' time as chief, Fremont was a substantially different place. Crime was high, and the town had a reputation as a dangerous, unsavory place, Stewart said. That stigma still lingers today, but Moats hopes it too will soon dissipate -- much like the crime his department has worked so hard to reduce.
"We were having two or three breaking and enterings a week, open drug sales at people's homes, we had a double shooting, a stabbing," Moats said. "I just want people to know that Fremont is not the same place it used to be."
Since then, the Fremont police have cleaned up the town significantly, said Fremont pastor Ira Reynolds.
"There used to be a bunch of people out there standing on the streets doing drugs. It wasn't a safe place," he said. "Things have changed drastically since Chief Moats got here."
Stewart, however, said the town's problems may have been overstated to begin with.
"I think we had the same problems as any other town," he said. "Sure, we had a drug problem, and you would hear about break-ins and thefts from time to time, but I don't think we had any problems that any other town hasn't had."
Moats said that since he arrived in Fremont crime has dropped by about 76 percent.
"We either ran (drug dealers) out of town or got convictions on them," he said.
The Fremont police have also made strides in obtaining the equipment necessary for an effective police force. The department has a dedicated grant writer who pursues funding, and has successfully funded the department every year since Moats has been chief.
"We've been able to get new patrol cars, computers, body cams, just about everything you could think of. We're ahead of the curve in terms of having what we need to be an effective police department."
Making such a dramatic improvement in public safety has not been simple, but the combined effort of the Fremont police has made it happen.
"The success of the Fremont Police Department is a group effort rather than any individual," Moats said. "I tell my guys to speak to the people, be friendly, because they're people just like us and we want them know us one-on-one."
Moats is keenly aware of the turmoil surrounding law enforcement around the country, and he said he wants to make sure the Fremont police stay out of any such controversy. Staying engaged in the community through the Boys and Girls Club, Meals on Wheels or just simply showing up and talking to young people goes a long way toward keeping community relations healthy, he said.
"I just want to continue our progression," Moats said. "I want us to be a department that the community trusts and grows to love."