Statement from Iredell County Sheriff, Darren Campbell:
In 2014, when I started my journey to become your Sheriff, I promised Iredell County honesty, integrity, and transparency. I strive, daily, to fulfill that promise, to do otherwise, would be a dereliction of the trust the citizens of Iredell County placed in me.
Oftentimes, that means answering the questions of why we perform our duties in a certain manner. I do believe that citizens should be able to ask questions, and welcome them.
Recently, I was asked by the media why members of our SERT team wore face coverings on a search warrant executed on houses that were actively selling drugs, in neighborhoods, where children reside, ride their bikes, wait for the school bus. While the safety of those who call Iredell County home is paramount, the safety of those who tirelessly serve Iredell County is equally important.
Our office is fortunate to have some of the best tactical tools available, such as our ROOK and Bearcat, which are indispensable in certain situations.
Make no mistake, I will never apologize for endeavoring to ensure that my fellow officers are provided with every safety measure necessary to perform their jobs.
However, in last week’s search warrants, a simple face covering provided protection on numerous levels.
SERT officers come from all divisions within our office. While some may serve in our narcotics division, often working undercover, others are patrol officers, detectives, administration, and yet, most all of them are husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers. All of them are sons, and daughters, and they all deserve to take off their badges at the end of the day, and slip quietly into their lives.
As law enforcement officers, one of our biggest struggles is to take off our badges, try to remember to not use our “officer” voices when asking our children to pick up their shoes, or our investigative skills to determine who really backed into the basketball goal. However, we are still officers, and as officers we are still moms and dads, uncles, aunts, sons and daughters, often blurring the lines between the two. And it is in that blurring of lines that these men and women perform their duties to apprehend those who offend, then remove their face coverings and move on to the next task at hand, providing care for the youngest victims. May we each grant these and all officers a bit of grace as they move among us, and switch roles seamlessly.