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The Town of Oakboro and Stanly County Sheriff Jeff Crisco have talked about a possible change for the town’s police department.
For months, the town’s police force has had less officers, including five resignations in the early spring. As the town faces the future following the resignation of Police Chief T.J. Smith, whose last day is July 28, Oakboro is looking at its options.
“The first priority of the Town of Oakboro is to maintain the safety and sense of security for all citizens,” the town stated on its Facebook page this week. “Our current OPD staff continues to serve the town well just as they have done in the past. Since May, the town has contracted with Stanly County Sheriff’s Department to fill the gaps in staff coverage. This option has been successful and we will continue to use their services at this time. The Town and Board are exploring all options for a quick resolution to ensure needs and safety are met, and also provide the services the citizens of Oakboro deserve.”
Crisco confirmed on Friday morning that he has met with Oakboro representatives.
“I have had a meeting because they reached out,” he said. “They said they are trying to look at all avenues of what is in the best interest of the town.
“They asked me to put together a proposed budget of what it would cost if they did a contract with the Sheriff’s Office — kind of like Harrisburg does with Sheriff (Van) Shaw in Cabarrus County and Indian Trail does with Sheriff Eddie Cathey in Union County.”
As of Friday morning, Crisco said, the only contract with the town is one where his office fills in spots because of small staffing in Oakboro, like he’s done in other towns when needed.
Crisco spoke of what a new police department could look like under his office.
“It would be like a true police department, so to speak, but it’s just run by the Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff’s Office personnel,” he said. “They would just contract with me to provide 24-hour coverage. That would be the only difference, it would be run by the Sheriff’s Office versus the Police Department.”
He talked of several advantages a contract would bring to the town’s residents.
“If the town did decide to do something like this, the advantage the citizens get is they get to have every resource available that the Sheriff’s Office has — everything from the drones, the K9s to the detectives, Animal Protective Services, Criminal Investigations, Narcotic, every resource the Sheriff’s Office has is now at their disposal,” Crisco said.

B.J. Drye is general manager/editor of The Stanly News & Press. Call 704-982-2123.