Attorney General Roy Cooper, discussing in a news conference Friday his decision not to re-try Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick in the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, called for better training in the use of force by law enforcement.

Cooper said the General Assembly should pass pending legislation that would pay for enhanced training in lethal force.

He said law enforcement officers deserve better pay, early retirement, the proper equipment and better training. But, he said, they are responsible for following the training they receive.

The legislation the attorney general mentioned is in the budget mix that House and Senate negotiators are working with. Both chambers included funding for the training in their budgets.

One line item would commit $455,000 in the current fiscal year for the N.C. Justice Academy to develop courses and training in use of force for local law enforcement agencies. Another nearly $260,000 would go to the State Highway Patrol to develop training for state law enforcement officers, including the State Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol Law Enforcement and State Capitol Police.

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Law enforcement types often have this thing about their first names. They tend to prefer initials only.

Check out their badges: S. Thomas. S. Dickason. M. Burchfield. E. Johnson. B. Venant. J. Erb. B. Ellis. Z. Morton. W. Williams.

These are the deputies who kept watch over for the last month over Courtroom 5370, home to the voluntary manslaughter trial of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick. Last week, the judge ordered a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.

Suffice to say, many of the people who attended the trial had differing opinions about the officer’s guilt or innocence. But those I talked with were unanimous in their appreciation of the job the deputies did.

I’ve been in courtrooms where fights broke out, and relatives of the victim charged the accused. Kerrick himself reportedly received death threats, and he entered and exited under armed guard.

Yet his trial, along with the people it drew, operated with a striking sense of civility and good will. The deputies not only respected that, they enhanced it.

Granted, during a combined four weeks of jury selection and testimony, Courtroom 5370 had a handful of minor confrontations. Almost all involved the same bystander. One day, with little more than a slight change in air pressure, two deputies led the gentleman out of the courthouse. He never came back.

The mistrial set off demonstrations in several parts of the city. In the courtroom, the judge’s decision drew disappointment from both sides of the aisle. But everybody behaved.

A tone had been set – thanks in part to the guys with the initialed first names.

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Within weeks, Jackson County jailers won’t be doling out pills and peering under prisoners’ tongues to make sure they’ve swallowed their medications.

Commissioners have hired a for-profit provider of correctional health services to oversee care — including dispensing medicines — at the 72-bed Jackson County Jail.

“I’d just as soon be out of hiring and supervising nurses and leave that to the medical professionals,” Sheriff Chip Hall told commissioners during an Aug. 18 work session. “Sheriffs don’t need to be in the nursing business.”

TransformHealth Correctional Services of Statesboro, Ga., will receive $201,405.64 a year. In return, Jackson County government anticipates slashing costs, reducing liability and providing prisoners improved medical and mental-health care. Deputies should ferry fewer prisoners to the hospital, decreasing possibilities of escape and freeing those officers for other duties.

The potential losers in this deal? Local health providers, namely Harris Regional Hospital. TransformHealth has an in-house laboratory, uses a mobile unit for x-rays and ultrasound, and oversees prisoner detox in the jail, not at hospitals.

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SUNSET BEACH, N.C. — More than 80 sheriffs from across the state met in Sunset Beach on Monday for the annual North Carolina Sheriffs Association Conference.

Gov. Pat McCrory attended and said that some of the major issues facing law enforcement today include mental health and sanctuary cities.

“People with mental health issues and addiction issues are ending up in either our county jails or state prisons or emergency rooms. And that is not a long-term solution, that’s not a short-term solution. And I’m exposing that problem. And working together with the judicial branch, the legislative branch, the executive branch and the sheriffs to make sure we have a long term solution for North Carolina,” said Gov. McCrory.

Several other speakers offered advice to law enforcement. Topics like leadership and professionalism were discussed, noting that accountability starts at the top.

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With a June 30 deadline approaching, both video game parlor owners and local law enforcement are working to understand exactly what sweepstakes legislation covers.

Video poker and other electronic gambling was banned in North Carolina in 2007. Since then operators have fought to remain open and have adapted their games to comply with their reading of the law to do so.

A November 2013 injunction prevented the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office from enforcing state sweepstakes laws, Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller said, explaining the injunction pre-dates his election to office. Miller said he recently received a call from County Attorney Lesley Moxley to inform him the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the injunction, which would allow the sheriff’s office to enforce the state law beginning July 1.

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NEWTON – He’s quick with a joke and he loves a good story, but the Catawba County jail hallways have stopped ringing with the laughter of Capt. Bob Riley, of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.

Friday was his last day on the job. Today he’s a retiree.

“I love this job,” Riley said. “If I could do it all over again, I’d start tomorrow.”

Now that he’s stepped away from law enforcement, it’s his old DARE days that he’s missing.

He worked at elementary schools where he connected with kids and did his best to steer them away from drugs and trouble. His favorite memories are of a time 20 years ago when he would drive his patrol cruiser into the housing projects and ask who wanted to go roller skating.

Children would flock around him and would take carload after carload to Skateland where every child got a free piece of pizza, a drink and rollerskates for the afternoon. He’d keep driving until every kid who wanted to skate was skating. When it was all over he’d take them home carload by carload.

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LEXINGTON, N.C. — After being shot over a year ago, Charlie Goforth is becoming acclimated to a different side of law enforcement.

Goforth, 33, sustained a shot to his mid-foot near his right ankle after responding to an incident on North Point Drive. Authorities alleged 27-year-old Jerome David Poole fired at deputies when they found him exiting someone else’s home.

One of the shots struck Goforth. Poole was released from the hospital in early January 2014 after being shot multiple times during ensuing crossfire. His charges, which included attempted murder for allegedly firing at deputies, were dismissed after Poole was deemed “incapable” of proceeding in court due to significant brain damage from the gunshot wound in the shootout with deputies.

“Right now, the case is currently considered inactive,” Goforth said during a recent interview. “Due to his injuries, he’s right now deemed incompetent to stand trial from his injuries. He’s actually been released from prison.”

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HOKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) — The tragedy in Charleston raises the question of how we can protect our own places of worship.

Now, Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin wants to help bring a sense of security to churches that generally welcome anyone with open arms.

“I remember as a child, you could go in the church anytime day or night,” said Pastor Toby Neal, of the Hillcrest Baptist Church. “It didn’t matter. The doors were never locked.”

For Neal and other church ministers, the horror of the Charleston shootings is a revelation.

“We don’t want to push anybody out of the church, and we are not,” said Neal. “Anybody that comes in is welcomed, but at the same time someone we don’t know, never seen before we’re definitely going to keep an eye on them.”

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Apex, N.C. — Any traffic stop is scary – for the driver, who may have done something wrong, and for the officer who doesn’t know what to expect.

While most drivers can adopt common-sense tactics to defuse that tension – communicate clearly and politely, keep hands visible, stay in the vehicle – those with disabilities or special needs face an additional challenge. This weekend in Apex, those drivers can get special training to help them anticipate and ease some of the anxiety of a traffic stop.

Twenty-year-old Kyla Ponciano has cerebral palsy and is unable to drive without her mother present, but, after Police Encounters training, she hopes to get her license soon.

“She really wants her independence, and she says this one way to get it,” her mother, Sheryl Ponciano, said.

Trainer Michael Macario, of the Raleigh Police Department, counseled Kyla Ponciano to tell an officer about her disability and the fact that it might delay her responses and reactions.

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Raleigh, N.C. — What started as a petty theft turned into a life lesson in community for a Wake County girl.

On May 22, the Bradshaw family came home to find their door pried open. Thieves had bypassed the computer, television and video game system but made off with a collection of costume jewelry from the bedroom of 10-year-old Jana Bradshaw.

“They didn’t take anything worth any monetary value,” mother Lisa Bradshaw said, “but it was worth a lot to her.” Most of the pieces had been given to Jana by her grandfather.

Deputy Chris Jackson of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office was moved by Jana’s loss to do more than just investigate the theft.

“It just came upon my heart to do something positive in this young girl’s life because I didn’t want her to remember the negative of this incident,” he said.

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