Orange County is having its first competitive race for the sheriff’s office since 2018.
Charles Blackwood, who has served as sheriff since 2014, is seeking his fourth consecutive term. Challenger David LaBarre has served with the Durham County Sheriff’s Office since 2003. Both candidates want to focus on mental health, giving attention to the needs of community members and officers. The candidates differ on their approach to the sheriff office’s budget, with LaBarre campaigning on a more transparent process and Blackwood defending the public nature of approving it.
Blackwood, a 45-year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, also wants to develop an Interdiction for the Protection of Children (IPC) mindset. IPC is designed to make patrol officers aware of the resources available to them when establishing the status of a child who may be missing, exploited, or at risk of exploitation and what courses of action are immediately available, according to Blackwood’s campaign website.
Blackwood said he wants to continue to adapt new technology like real-time information centers—which connect live feeds from a network of cameras— and continue working with the county’s Coordinated Opioid Overdose Reduction Effort (COORE) program, which guarantees amnesty for people disposing of drugs. Blackwood also said he wants to work with the Orange County Department on Aging as Baby Boomers get older; as sheriff, Blackwood helped implement the LifeTrack program, which helps authorities locate missing people with cognitive or intellectual disabilities enrolled in the program through trackers.
Blackwood said he wants to address mental health needs of officers by helping them work through—rather than penalizing them for—issues they report and getting state and federal money to treat people with mental illnesses rather than incarcerate them.
“When I ran for office, I didn’t run for a four-year job,” Blackwood said. “I made a commitment to my community, to be there for them, and having served in this agency for 45 years and then as sheriff for 11, I think that speaks volumes about my commitment to my community.”
Blackwood said he has worked in and supervised every division of the office, where he now oversees 180 employees. He has served as president of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, chair of the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission, and as a member of the state Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services Board. Blackwood received the Dogwood Award in 2020 for his work combatting the opioid epidemic in North Carolina.
He faced criticism early last year for sending a Hispanic detainee to the Alamance County Detention Center after the detainee allegedly assaulted officers during his arrest. Alamance County has historically collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Blackwood said the decision was customary and an attempt to avoid any further incident between the detainee and officers. The detainee was not deported and is serving time in the North Carolina Department of Corrections for crimes prior to his arrest in Orange County, Blackwood said.
Blackwood also said he would honor immigration detainers as required by state House Bill 318 for people charged with felonies, high-level misdemeanors, impaired driving and protective order violations. These detainers ask sheriffs to hold detainees immigration authorities believe are in the U.S. illegally for at least 48-hours after they would normally be released from jail. This allows ICE agents time to get custody of the detainee and begin the deportation process.
LaBarre has been the director of Planning and Development at the Durham County Sheriff’s Office since 2017; he has served in a range of roles with the agency—including as a narcotics and organized crime detective and intelligence unit sergeant—since 2003. He’s a member of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Everytown for Gun Safety.
LaBarre has criticized Blackwood’s choice to send the detainee to Alamance County, saying the Republican leadership in Alamance differs from Orange County’s Democratic majority.
“Our governing bodies, our elected officials, we don’t share the same values when it comes to prevention and intervention and diversion,” LaBarre said. “And when we bring in officers from other counties, all they’re coming to do is one thing, and that’s make arrests. And what that turns into, with a lack of clear and concise leadership and focused and strategic investigations, is this dragnet approach to enforcement.”
LaBarre said the keystones of his campaign are transparency, accountability, and engaging the community in all the office’s functions. His campaign is also focused on prevention, diversion, and intervention in an effort to keep residents out of the criminal legal system.
A central piece of his campaign is to implement participatory budgeting with the community and form an independent, third-party oversight committee to review policy and reduce any discriminatory policies. He says he would get community input before implementing new initiatives or asking for more funding.
“I just have a real problem with not having the policies in place that keep a sheriff’s office accountable and transparent because there’s so much going on, so much at stake, there’s so much power and authority involved,” LaBarre said. “A lot of things fall through the cracks.”
Blackwood says the budgeting process already happens in the open. The sheriff’s office receives a budget from Orange County. The Board of County Commissioners can approve, deny, and make changes to the budget through meetings that are open to the public.
LaBarre was hurt in 2016 during an accident cutting trees, which caused him to lose some of his vision. This prevented him from returning to serve as a law enforcement officer, though LaBarre said he is still sworn as an officer with an inactive status. He has continued to work at the Durham County Sheriff’s Office in administrative and management roles, he said.
LaBarre said his administrative roles have given him time to work on policy and reforms, like expanding jail-based mental health and addiction services. He said he wants to require officer training for crisis intervention, mental health, and first aid so officers can more effectively respond to calls, and supports expanding treatment options and alternatives to policing and prosecution for cases involving mental illness.
He has served as a member of the Orange County Human Relations Committee, as well as met with many activists, who have helped shape his “journey of reform.”
“I feel that one of my biggest strengths is my ability to be a facilitative leader,” LaBarre said.
In-person early voting in Orange County begins February 12, with primary election day March 3. No Republican candidates file for the seat, so the Democratic primary election between Blackwood and LaBarre will determine who serves as sheriff.
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