Matt Scott and Burnis Wilkins together provide hope for a county that desperately needs it.
So there was plenty to celebrate when we learned last week that Scott, fresh from a convincing general election victory and the district attorney on deck, had a meeting with Sheriff-elect Wilkins and among the subjects discussed is an effort to get our Sheriff’s Office to once again participate in the federal government’s drug-forfeiture asset program.
We offer this without an implication that District Attorney Johnson Britt, who is leaving that office after 24 years, or Sheriff Kenneth Sealey, exiting after 13 years, have not performed admirably. They have — and we will say more on that when the time comes.
It also is not a secret that the DA’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office have not always been reading from the same script. There is now an opportunity to build a new and strong relationship between those two critical law enforcement agencies.
There were efforts during the election by some to pit Wilkins and Scott against each other, primarily because they grew up on different sides of Interstate 95. But it is apparent to us already that they understand that too much depends on them working as a team for them to be divided for no real reason.
Robeson County is becoming increasingly crime-ridden and violent, and if we can’t somehow wedge a finger into that dyke, then our future is in peril. We simply must do better — and it is imperative that the county’s top two law enforcement officers are pulling in the same direction.
Scott, who is 41 years old, brings an energy that could stoke an understaffed District Attorney’s Office that is weary from decades of taking two steps forward and three backward because of the sheer number of cases that are deposited on its desk. New ideas are needed, and Scott has one we embrace, which is to begin treating people who have drug addictions not as criminals, but as we would anyone who suffers a debilitating disease.
Wilkins, a 57-year-old veteran lawman, shares that sentiment, a position that he has evolved into. But he will shed no tear for those who would sell the addict the drugs. Wilkins has spent two-thirds of his life chasing drug dealers, and that will continue as his priority.
Scott and Wilkins understand that drugs drive so much of the crime in Robeson County, from violent ones, such as murder and assault, to petty ones, such as shoplifting, and pretty much everything in between.
Being able to once again participate in the drug-forfeiture asset program, which allows the arresting agency to share in assets such as cash, weapons and vehicles, has the potential to be a significant windfall for a Sheriff’s Office that is strapped for resources and often finds itself essentially outgunned.
The fact that these two men grew up on opposite sides of Interstate 95 we see not as a negative, but a plus. They bring different experiences, resources and relationships to the same war, and we believe that will have them well-armed.
They will need to be. We are excited for the possibilities.