In 2018 the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office continued to move toward several goals within the office relative to offering the highest level of customer service, starting with rewriting our mission statement- which is read aloud in our shift change every day.
“Our commitment is to build trust with every citizen we come into contact with, more especially those who have called on our office in need of assistance. We will build that trust by conducting our business professionally in an ethical and integrity-based way. Our goal is to provide a high level of safety for our citizens so they can enjoy their community and their everyday life.
We will bridge the gap of what our citizens’ perception is of law enforcement as we conduct our business they have called us for in a professional and efficient manner, providing service, education and timely information.”
The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office integrates community policing on a regular basis, whether it is our patrol shift, investigations division, administration or our community relations coordinator, keeping community policing in mind has become almost second nature for some deputies when it comes to their approach to this job.
We closely follow the motto “we want to get to know our communities before we need to know our communities in a crisis,” meaning, we don’t want our only interactions with people to be when something serious or threatening is occurring.
Some examples of this approach of community policing include our development of crime prevention education classes (a variety of topics), continuing our own education in the way of following crime trends, presenting drug prevention information to students, attending various community events throughout the year, holding positions on various committees throughout the county.
Our office recently shifted our Criminal Suppression Unit from one group to a two-team unit comprised of one sergeant and two deputies per team. This specialized unit focuses on proactive surveillance and problem-solving efforts in higher crime areas and neighborhoods.
The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office staff continues to see increased community engagement when it comes to finding crime-fighting solutions. Citizens’ interest in learning how to protect themselves and property, learning how to report suspicious activity and how to be proactive neighbors is becoming more vibrant. We also receive a lot of positive feedback in our communities, both in person and through our social media outlets, which is a reflection of the hard work of our deputies and staff. Our Crime Stoppers tip line and Community Concerns Portal (crime tip website submissions) remain active and incredibly valuable resources for our office when it comes to investigations.
Not only does our office take part in numerous community events, educational programs, and committees throughout the year, but we also have members of the community coming to our office, wanting to help and be a part of this growing, dynamic culture. Our most exciting volunteer commitment is our Citizens on Patrol program, which has really taken our office to the next level to reach when it comes to engaging our Community Watch groups.
This report highlights the hard work, trends and statistical information from each division of our office.
