of shootings alone in the city of Durham, from 495 reported shootings last year between January and September to the 689 reports this year, according to a WRAL report.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cDurham has a serious gun problem, certainly a serious gun violence problem. You overlay that with a gang issue we have had for years. Unfortunately in this environment, be it the pandemic and where we are nationally, all of it is contributing to an uptick in crime,\u201d Birkhead said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCrime increased in the county, which the sheriff’s department patrols, as well from January to September 2019 to those nine months in 2020. For example: aggravated assaults, which includes shootings, rose 18%; larceny is up 11%; car thefts rose 38%; and burglaries increased 29%, according to the sheriff’s department.<\/span><\/p>\nBirkhead said he worries that as the election draws closer crime will continue to rise including, potentially, acts of voter intimidation and voter suppression.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u201cLaw enforcement all across the state of North Carolina is talking about what will need to be done to make sure everyone is safe not just from the virus, but safe from any voter suppression or voter intimidation,\u201d said the sheriff.<\/span><\/p>\nNine state offenders, people sentenced to stays in state prison, were still being held in the Durham Detention Center of Sept. 29. North Carolina pays the county detention center $40 a day for holding these people. That is not a major concern as it makes up a very small percentage of the total inmate population, the sheriff said.<\/span><\/p>\nThroughout the state of North Carolina 78 jails were holding at least one offender on backlog to the prison system as of last month. There were 792 offenders on the backlog then, although the number fluctuates daily, said to John Bull, communications officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.<\/span><\/p>\nBull attributed the backlog to a high systemwide correctional officer vacancy rate, exacerbated by the pandemic. While noting it\u2019s not\u00a0 the highest it\u2019s been in recent years, the vacancy rate was 15.92%, Bull said.<\/span><\/p>\nDespite the rise in the number of people held in the Magnum Street detention center, the fact that it is below capacity still helps reduce the risk of another coronavirus outbreak, Birkhead said.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt allows us to do extraordinary measures: placing detainees into single cells, creating as much social distancing as possible, skipping cells and spreading folks out,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Sheriff expects to present a new version of his testing plan to county commissioners on Monday.<\/span> \n<\/span> \n<\/span>9th Street reporter Dryden Quigley can be reached at dryden.quigley@duke.edu<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nAt top: People are barely visible peeking out of windows on the face of the Durham County Detention Facility downtown, but they are there. Photo by Henry Haggart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After not landing funding for coronavirus testing at the Durham County Detention Facility last month, Sheriff Clarence Birkhead has a new proposal.\u00a0 The sheriff on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-4186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-safety","tag-coronavirus","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Sheriff seeks pared-down testing to monitor coronavirus in county jail - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n