Burke invests more in public safety as crime, overdoses decline

Drug overdoses in Burke County dropped to their lowest level in five years in 2025, while the sheriff’s staffing shortages have nearly disappeared — two of the key public safety improvements county officials highlighted during a recent budget planning session.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Combined public safety spending, which includes the detention center, the sheriff’s department, emergency medical services (EMS), the fire marshal’s office, and the E-911/Communications department, increased by nearly 3% from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026.

That’s a boost from $30,092,482 to $30,962,884.

The largest increase came from the sheriff’s department, whose budget grew from $10,640,279 to $11,392,924, a rise of more than 7%. The fire marshal’s office dropped from $588,664 to $484,043, a nearly 18% decrease.

FIRE MARSHAL’S OFFICE

A year in from the department’s separation from EMS, Fire Marshal Robert Bishop discussed first-year challenges and improvements, noting a stark increase in inspections that kept the state’s hands out of local processes.

“We were inspected by the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal in late ’23,” Bishop said. “We were pretty close to being put on probation by the state inspection program.”

Had the department been placed on probation, the state would take over the inspection program, bringing in its own team to conduct inspections and retaining the fees associated.

Acting on recommendations from NC Fire Chief Consulting, the fire marshal’s office increased inspections from 15% of required properties to 65% within a year.

The fire marshal’s office responds to fire and arson investigations and fatalities, handles hazardous materials, conducts public and private school inspections, and reviews fire and life safety plans, among other fire prevention programs.

Three main improvement areas suggested for the fire marshal’s office included increasing staffing levels to comply with state laws, reorganizing the divisions within the department to load balance work between team members, and implementing a new records management system.

The department reclassified one full-time employee’s position to work as an administrative assistant, adopted a new records management software platform, and brought in another crew member.

BURKE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

After starting his term with dozens of open positions, Burke County Sheriff Banks Hinceman says his office has nearly rebuilt its ranks, cutting vacancies to just one deputy and seven detention officers since 2023.

“When I took office, we were about 16 deputies short and about 26 detention officers short,” Hinceman said. “The sheriff’s office, with the staffing levels that we had, to have that many vacancies and serving about 88,000 people in Burke County, covering about 500 square miles, you could imagine the challenges of that.”

Hinceman reported that across new hires and promotions, 36 deputies were sworn in and 31 added to the detention roster since November 2022. In that same time period, 16 deputies and 13 detention officers left the sheriff’s office.

Currently, the BCSO is down to one vacancy among deputies and seven among detention officers.

In some cases, the office reorganized structures within the jail and expanded sworn-in staff without much impact on taxpayers.

In several cases, officers are dually sworn in with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) and ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children), allowing prosecution to move to more serious federal courts.

In 2025, the BCSO reported charging at least five narcotics cases at the federal level. The sheriff’s office charged 29 people with trafficking illegal substances in 2025.

OVERALL REDUCTION IN CRIME AND OVERDOSES

Burke County recorded 259 overdoses and 24 deaths in 2025, the lowest total in five years. The number has steadily declined from 322 overdoses in 2024 and more than 500 cases annually in 2022 and 2023 — a drop of nearly 52% since 2023.

“One is too many,” Hinceman said. “That’s what we’re striving for, and I think we’ve made some significant gains in the last year and still got a lot of work to do. But you can see how those numbers are coming down.”

Hinceman said the department has homed in on trafficking, focusing on the individuals bringing drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine into the community.

He also reported that murder, rape, robbery, auto theft, and other Part I crimes are down by 17% from the preceding year. Drug possession, assault, fraud, vandalism, and other Part II crimes dropped by 6%.

Between the two designated officers over sex offenses, one conducted 27 ICAC-related investigations.

The other officer investigated 69 sex offense cases, with about 180 investigations from the Department of Social Services requiring review and follow-up.

In total, the BCSO booked nearly 3,400 people into jail in 2025.

JAIL BEDS

The average inmate costs approximately $20-22 per day to house. In 2023, the BCSO began renting jail beds to other counties, charging $65 per day for neighboring counties and $75 for counties farther away.

This brought in more than $1.2 million in revenue, which largely goes back into the county’s pocket and helps pay for the jail.