Dedicating personal time to a cause after putting in a full day’s work (toward the same cause), is a sure sign you have a passion for what you do.
Donald Pinchback, chief court counselor for District 10 (Wake County), and his Juvenile Court Services staff can make that claim without hesitation.
The latest graduates of the Prison Emergency Response Team (PERT) basic training have joined an elite group of correctional officers in North Carolina. Prisons’ Chief of Security Kenneth Smith has often referred to PERT as, “the agency’s greatest resource due to the sheer numbers, experience and the broad scope of mission capabilities.”
On July 1, 1929, after the General Assembly authorized the State Highway Patrol’s creation, 37 individuals took an oath of office and became North Carolina’s first state troopers. These patrol members monitored miles of highway on Harley Davidson motorcycles, enforcing motor vehicle laws and assisting the motoring public.
North Carolina Emergency Management has received the 2019 Wade H. Hargrove Community Leadership Award from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters for its support of the state and North Carolina’s broadcast stations during Hurricane Florence in the fall of 2018.
The DPS team has seen real results across the state as it works to put Governor Cooper’s Opioid Action Plan into action. Below, we outline where we are now and our future initiatives in this realm, as we work to meet our goal of helping the North Carolinians struggling with opioid use disorder to lead healthier, more productive lives through prevention, harm reduction and access to care.
Accountability, efficiency and professionalism are often some of the sought-after characteristics that can be found in job descriptions for North Carolina state employees. However, passionate, strong and caring are the unwritten attributes that also are needed to serve in roles that help to keep the Old North State a great place to live, work, play and prosper.
Nurses Answer the Call
“4 million reasons to celebrate.” This is the slogan for the 2019 American Nurses Association (ANA), National Nurses Week recognition. (Find out more here.) Many of those four million reasons work in correctional healthcare. Teams of dedicated medical professionals provide juvenile and adult offenders housed in NCDPS facilities with the same level of healthcare accessed by the general public.
Everyone loves to eat. Now, as far as food preparation goes, that’s another story.
Central Prison Food Service Manager Conell Chapman loves food. He loves to eat, and he loves the process of preparation. Chapman also loves imparting that wisdom to offenders and prison staff, not just at Central Prison in Raleigh but to other prisons, county jails and federal facilities in North Carolina, across the country and Canada.
There’s a special kind of therapist making the rounds at Catawba Correctional Center. Her name is Lou Lou. “Good morning Lou Lou,” is echoed every day when folks encounter the friendly greeter.
She’s not an official employee, but more like a volunteer who gets paid with an occasional dog treat or a pat on the head. Lou Lou is the facility mascot, a dog serving as a daily reminder of the value of the life and joy she brings as man’s best friend to many men and women inside the fence at Catawba.
After making choices in life that led to prison sentences, participants in the Think Smart Program are sharing their stories with youth across North Carolina to convince them to avoid the same mistakes.