Changes in Sheriff's office operations during the State of Emergency
Under the State of Emergency, the ultimate goal of all the executive orders, requests and other rules has been to reduce exposure of all people to this virus. In our line of work it is hard to limit exposure, but there are some things that we can do to limit our exposure during this time. Therefore, the Sheriff's Office has implementing the following changes in accordance with County of Lenoir decisions:
Courthouse hours for the public will be from 10:00 a.m.to 3:00 p.m.. This is for all offices in the Courthouse to include the Sheriff's Office, County Manager, Finance, Human Resources, Clerk of Court, Judges etc.
The Sheriff's Office will NOT be doing fingerprints for any reason at the courthouse to limit exposure to our staff and to you until further notice. This includes CCW applications, job fingerprints or any other reason for fingerprints.
The Patrol Division deputies will be prioritizing calls and determining what types of calls can be handled by phone rather than in person. If it is a call that only needs a report, a deputy will be calling you to handle that. PLEASE KNOW THAT this will NOT stop us from responding to calls where a true emergency exists or when a deputy is required in person. As professionals in our field, we are very aware of what requires an immediate response and what can be handled through a call. This is about us and you regarding exposure. Remember, we must encounter a lot of people during our normal daily operations. We do not want to expose our citizens to anything we may have been exposed to during our shifts.
If a deputy does respond to your home, we will be asking you to come outside to speak with the deputy. We do not want to have our deputies going inside your home where other people may be present. This is another means of limiting our exposure to others and it will be easier for us to keep the recommended 6 foot distance. We hope you will cooperate with this request.
Please know that we are taking the recommendations, executive orders and our employees and citizens safety very seriously. These steps are meant to protect our employees and the public during this event of significant uncertainty.
