$1 million grant to fund crime reduction efforts in Robeson County

Aug. 17—LUMBERTON — The effort to reduce crime in Robeson County has been accelerated by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The grant to be paid out over a three-year period was announced Monday at the Cross-Sector Partnership for Crime Reduction Kickoff event in the Robeson County Emergency Operations Center. Funding was awarded to the N.C. Youth Violence Prevention Center and will help various agencies in efforts to reduce crime over the next three years.

"We were funded in 2019 and then this pandemic happened," said Paul Smokowski, N.C. Youth Violence Prevention Center director of Research, Development and Community Impact.

The partnership consists of members Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins; Sheriff's Office Maj. Damien McLean and Lt. Kevin Hickman; Rape Crisis Center of Robeson County Executive Director Virginia Locklear, Leon Burden, of Colors of Life; Renee Lamphere and Mathew Hassett, of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke; Robeson County Chief District Court Judge Angelica Chavis McIntyre; District Attorney Matt Scott; and various members of the N.C. Youth Violence Prevention Center, such as Executive Director Jim Barbee, according to Barbee.

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office and Lumberton Police Department each will get $75,000, which will mean they will receive about $25,000 annually during the three-year funding period.

There have been eight murders this year in Robeson County, which sees about 25-30 each year, Wilkins said. But, there has been a rise in youth violence.

He said drugs are the "root" of crime in the county.

We see the need for rehabilitation and the need of people with mental health issues, Wilkins said.

"But, at the same time, there are people out there who are just downright mean, and that's the ones that we are gonna go after, that's the ones that we will utilize this grant funding for to continue to work those neighborhoods in the — in the county, particularly that these criminals wreak havoc on. We get calls on them every day," he said.

The Sheriff's Office will continue its work with other police departments, like the Lumberton Police Department, across the county to address crime, according to Wilkins.

"We would put this grant towards reducing our sellers that are coming in here and selling these drugs to these young people and throughout our county," said Mike McNeill, Lumberton chief of police.

"This grant's gonna really help us put manpower out on the street," he added.

McNeill and Wilkins both thanked the N.C. Youth Violence Prevention Center and others who helped secure the grant.

"We have spent far too much time policing and prosecuting than we have been preventing," said Joe Osman, an assistant district attorney.

As part of the initiative, a mediation program will be put in place in which certified mediators facilitate conversations with victims and defendants in misdemeanor cases, Osman said. The program will provide "more victim satisfaction" and will take cases off the already clogged court docket.

"I think it's gonna have a great effect," District Court Judge Greg Bullard said.

Bullard said in his experience as an attorney and judge he has seen some cases come before court that could have been settled if both parties had participated in a mediation session and worked out a simple misunderstanding.

So far, five people have been through training for the mediator certification, Smokowski said. The goal is to work through how the program will function in the next month.

Other prevention strategies include gang prevention by the Colors of Life organization; community events and training on victimization, trauma awareness and victim services offered by the Youth Center and Rape Crisis Center; Teen Court; and School Justice Partnership between Robeson County District Court and the Public Schools of Robeson County.

The group is also working on getting a local child advocacy center, so local children can be served in the county, rather than traveling to a facility in a neighboring area, Smokowski said.

In 2020, the partnership met to craft a crime reduction implementation plan. While crafting the plan, the partnership identified the effects of economic disadvantages in the county and how that stress can lead to domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, and drug offenses, according to Smokowski.

Robeson County lost its spot in 2018 as No. 1 in property, violent and overall crime rates in the state.

According to annual reports by the State Bureau of Investigation, the county was No. 1 in the state from 2014 through 2017 in property and overall crime rates per 100,000 people. The county also led the state in 2014, 2015, 2017 in violent crime rates and was No. 2 in 2016.

In 2018, Robeson County ranked fifth highest in the state in overall crime, with 4,226.7 per 100,000 people. Richmond, at 4,719.1 per 100,000 people, led the state, followed by Durham and Scotland counties. The decline for Robeson County from 2017 to 2018 was 28.2%.

The partnership will meet quarterly to discuss progress, Smokowski said.

Lumberton Mayor Bruce Davis said the City of Lumberton is grateful for the funding and supportive of the mission.

"I would like to thank Mr. Barbee and his group for putting this all together," Davis said.

"We're fully committed. We think it's a great thing," he added.

Reach Jessica Horne at 910-416-5165 or via email at [email protected]