BRUNSWICK COUNTY — A small city in Brunswick County currently has no police, and while county sheriffs are being contracted to patrol for now, the mayor intends to be fully restaffed sometime next year.
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The close-knit community of Northwest, a city approximately 20 miles from Wilmington, went from a partially-staffed police department to no police in the last year. The department had three officers all resign within months of each other, and former Police Chief David Everett, the last officer standing, also resigned suddenly in November.
“That’s where it all started and then we went down to zero officers,” Mayor Sheila Grady said, something that has never happened before in her seven years working with the city.
Grady said Everett had some health issues in the past, but nothing the city hadn’t been able to work with him through. Yet, on Nov. 19, Everett left a note on the clerk’s desk stating his resignation, due to circumstances that Grady said should remain private — effective immediately.
Two of the three other officers that resigned had been on staff for under a year and all three left due to their own actions on duty. Grady said she couldn’t go into details about as human resources is working through the legality of the incidents.
“These were some issues that they encountered in their policing — their own personal actions — that they felt it best to resign,” Grady commented.
Northwest has a population of about 1,000. For a city of that size, Grady is looking to recruit five full-time officers in the next six to twelve months to make up a fully staffed police department with 24 hour coverage — which is more officers than the state average, as 2022 showed departments had two officers per every 1,000 residents.
“ We do have some interests coming in,” Grady said. “Hopefully we’ll be at the point of interviewing in the near future.”
Since the chief’s resignation, Brunswick County sheriffs have been filling in. A temporary agreement between the city and the county is currently being finalized. It will assign several deputies to patrol the city full-time while the police department is being restaffed.
Port City Daily reached out to the county sheriff’s office asking how many officers they are assigning to the city and when patrol will begin.
Spokesperson Emily Flax didn’t answer but emailed PCD a statement: “We are assisting the Town of Northwest by answering calls for service in the area until their police department is staffed. Assisting other agencies that may be short-staffed, or need us for any reason is nothing unusual.”
Grady said the agreement is ready and should be in place after Christmastime. Flax did not comment on the agreement.
“Those officers will be paid by Northwest for the hours that they work,” Grady said. “But it’s on a temporary basis because our goal is to restaff our police department.”
However, recruiting officers is no easy feat.
Hiring is a lengthy process that can take several months. It requires filling out an application and passing initial physical fitness and written tests. Then applicants undergo a background check, where an investigator dives into their personal, professional, and criminal history. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to complete.
There is also an in-person interview — sometimes more than one — and when the background check has been approved, applicants have a psychological evaluation, a second physical fitness and written test, a physical check-up, and finally a polygraph interview. The polygraph interview — also known as the lie detector test — is often the last step of the process, and failing disqualifies the applicant from the job.
That’s just the hiring process, which doesn’t include the four to six months of basic training before being sworn in as a cop.
“ It’s difficult to find officers — especially in smaller towns,” Grady said. “ You can’t be in that kind of work just for a job.”
Grady wants officers for Northwest who enjoy people and are willing to build relationships with the community and “be visible”. The process of hiring and investing in an officer also comes with the responsibility of the officer investing back into the community — “ those things are really needed in order to establish that relationship with the community members,” Grady said.
The city is promoting the open positions through job postings and flyers on different venues and websites, and also working with Brunswick, Cape Fear, and other nearby community colleges that host basic training to spread the word.
Grady said the city tries to be competitive with their benefits and pay, offering close to what other larger municipalities might give their officers, to incentivize anyone interested in law enforcement to invest their time in the small city. The city is also considering sponsoring officers through their training to help make Northwest more of a desirable location. Training is often sponsored for larger police departments, like Wilmington PD, where officers-in-training are paid through their basic training course.
The loss of city police in Northwest follows a statewide trend of police staffing shortages over the last several years. Since 2020, the Wilmington Police Department has lost about 208 officers due to resignations and retirement. However, many of the vacancies have been filled, leaving approximately 50 open officer positions.
Data from earlier this year shows the Raleigh Police Department was short about 90 officers and the Durham Police Department was down 130. Similarly, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office had 10 officer vacancies and over 80 vacancies for jail security in the county detention facility that houses approximately 400 inmates.
PCD asked the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office for their data on staffing shortages, but did not hear back by press.
“ I think the more qualified they are, the more committed and dedicated they will be,” Grady said. “We need strong people that are qualified, that enjoy working with people.”
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