Keeping watch, no matter the hour

by Philip S. Ruckle Jr.

Not your typical home away from home, the Dare County Detention Center can house more than 100 people at any given time.

Every day, 24 hours a day, a crew of trained detention officers are on duty watching over people awaiting trial for a criminal offense, awaiting transport to a state prison after being convicted of one or serving a sentence of up to 24 months. At the end of April, staff was watching over 57 men and 15 women.

While most activity takes place during daytime hours, even though residents are locked down from 11:30 p.m. until 6 a.m., there is still plenty to do in the middle of the night. Crime does not follow any preset schedule.

Officially the job duties for a detention officer include ensuring the safety and security of the residents housed within the jail walls, controlling inmates by performing routine facility checks and conducting head counts, receiving and processing inmates into custody of institution, searching prisoners, taking charge of and inventorying personal property, escorting and transporting inmates to court and other required appointments, and overseeing the handling and distribution of medications and meals.

In reality, it means an officer has to be a counselor, statistician, mathematician, data entry clerk, telephone operator, photographer, taxi driver, nurse, babysitter and banker.

“When people come in it helps to be able to talk to them in a way they understand,” explains Cpl. J. Cooper. “If they’re going to be here for the night we enter their information and charges into the computer, take a mugshot, inventory any property and count and record any money they have. Then we take them to the pod.”

Cooper went on to say that without medical staff on hand at night, they sometimes will have to make a medical determination on who needs to go to the hospital, or receive other medical treatment. Officers can call a nurse for advice, but they are still on the front line for whatever happens.

And then there’s answering the phone.

“We have nights that we are busy and we cannot catch up,” Cooper continues. “The phone keeps ringing off the hook from people calling to see if family or friends are in jail. Other times it’s pretty quiet.”

When people are brought in, they first go before a magistrate who reviews the charges and sets bail, which is the amount of money that must be paid to be released from jail pending trial.

If released on an unsecured bond, no money is required. A secured bond means a person can be released only after paying that amount in cash, posting a property bond or by hiring a bail bondsman.

No cash, no property, no bondsman, no release. It’s a short walk to the booking desk and then to the shower and dressing room.

According to Cooper, when a person has been arrested they are quarantined for three days under COVID guidelines to reduce any potential risk, and then become part of the regular population. Busy or not, cameras mounted all around the building provide a view of every room and every hall.

Watching four large TV monitors with several dozen inset images, Sgt. L. George says “We have lots of cameras to monitor activity anywhere in or around the compound. They’re outside, in the pods, in the lobby, hallways, parking lot, kitchen and everywhere.”

“Sometimes when people come in they are irritated at being here,” says Cooper. “They get rowdy and want to fight so we try to calm them down as best we can. There’s a lot more to it than just standing and watching them. We do have a lot of mental health issues here in Dare County, so you never know what’s going to happen.”

“You just have to take it day by day,” added booking desk Officer J. Grissom.

3:00AM