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AULANDER – Tyrone Ruffin is a man of his word.

Since taking the oath of office on Dec. 5, 2022 as Sheriff of Bertie County, Ruffin has promoted transparency. Ruffin has followed through on that promise, to include a “listening session” he held on Tuesday of this week at the Aulander Community Building. There were two sessions that day, one at 2 p.m. and the other at 6 p.m.

“Both sessions had a larger turnout than expected and it was very informative,” Ruffin said afterwards. “I look forward to continuing to share with the citizens the great works done by their Bertie County Sheriff’s Office and listening and addressing concerns in the county.”

The purpose of the event was to share information with Bertie County citizens as well as an effort to get them involved in helping to fight crime.

“You need to know what’s going on within your community, within your neighborhood,” Ruffin said at the outset of his remarks on Tuesday. “The Bertie Sheriff’s Office has a Facebook page that shares a lot of information and we have our local newspapers reporting on things you need to know.”

Ruffin also promoted the county’s alert system, one that notifies citizens by phone call or text in the event of an emergency or a road closure. There was staff on hand Tuesday to sign citizens up for that free service.

As for sharing information with the sheriff’s office, Ruffin promised the citizens that the info remains anonymous.

“In order for your community to be safe, sometimes you are the one that has to get involved to help us solve cases,” Ruffin remarked. “Your eyes sometimes see things we don’t see. What you share with us allows our investigators to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Once all the pieces fall in place is when we make an arrest.”

Ruffin stressed he and his staff are 100 percent committed to community engagement by attending and participating in local events.

“That way you can see the faces of those who are protecting you and your family,” Ruffin stated.

He proclaimed that the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office is progressive, proactive and productive.

“We’re taking people off the street that are committing crime,” Ruffin said. “We’re being proactive by partnering with the Highway Patrol to obtain radar equipment that we have in some of our patrol units to catch speeders. We are enforcing the speed limit on our roads.”

He added that the Bertie Sheriff’s Office is part of the Down East Drug Task Force, which also consists of law enforcement officers from Hertford and Northampton counties.

“The Task Force is doing an amazing job in taking drugs off our streets and keeping drugs away from our children,” Ruffin noted. “That proactive work has, in some cases, locked local drug dealers up on federal charges.”

Ruffin said there were six murders in Bertie County in 2023. Four of those cases have been solved and his investigators remain 100 percent engaged in making headway in the other two cases.

“But we can’t do this alone; we need you, the citizens, involved in being our eyes and ears and sharing, confidentially, what you see and hear,” the Sheriff said.

As for 2024, to date there have been two murders in Bertie County, both of which have been solved.

Ruffin said the number of drive-by shootings is dwindling as compared to past years.

“We’ve worked hard on solving those cases,” he said, adding that when those arrests have been made they also help reduce the number of guns on the street. “We have averaged, per week, taking two to five guns off the street.”

That effort, however, has sounded a bigger alarm.

“I never thought I would see the day where children, 14 to 15 year-olds, are walking around with a gun stuck in their waistband,” Ruffin said. “And some of them have guns as big as those that we use in the sheriff’s office.”

Ruffin said a recent seminar he attended at the FBI Training Academy in Virginia revealed that Bertie County isn’t alone in dealing with drug and gun issues.

“It’s a nationwide issue and the age of those committing crimes is getting younger and younger,” he stressed.

“It’s due to community engagements like this one tonight that allows us to join with you to strategize ways we can change the mindset of children who are lost and help them get back on track,” Ruffin continued. “But it’s going to take more than just you and us; it’s going to take our [county] commissioners, and our state legislators to all pitch in with ideas and ways to make Bertie County safer.”

As is public knowledge, the Town of Aulander is currently without a municipal police force. Rather, the town has partnered with the Bertie Sheriff’s Office to provide deputies, while off-duty from that job, to patrol the streets of Aulander.

“Unless the town hires someone to staff their police department, the Bertie Sheriff’s Office is taking care of the town,” Ruffin said. “I’m sure you have seen our deputies on patrol here.”

Ruffin opened the floor to local citizens regarding any issues they are experiencing. They responded, talking about speeders, erecting surveillance cameras in town, and the “open air” sale and use of illegal drugs and consuming alcohol.

“Some things just take time to take care of,” Ruffin said. “These concerns you spoke of didn’t start when I became sheriff; those problems have been here. Some people think they’re untouchable, but I’ll say this, check my track record on putting people behind bars. My record speaks for itself. Together we will clean up this mess.

“I believe that you need to know what’s going on and to hear it from me….now, right now, rather than waiting to only see me at election time. If you have issues, whether you live in Aulander, Lewiston Woodville, Windsor or anywhere in Bertie County…it doesn’t matter, talk to one of my deputies or call me. We are here for you,” Ruffin concluded.

At the start of the 6 p.m. listening session on Tuesday, Ruffin introduced several members of his staff. Also in attendance were Edenton Police Chief David LaFon, a native of Aulander, along with Kim Hicks, an Assistant District Attorney.