Elon’s municipal police department commandeered the spotlight earlier this week when the town’s elected leaders convened their latest semimonthly meeting.
Among the items that Elon’s town council took up on Monday was the proposed purchase of a second-hand SUV to replace the breakdown-prone vehicle that the police department had assigned to one of its sergeants.
The council ultimately voted 4-to-0 to transfer $25,000 from the town’s asset forfeiture funds to buy this “low-mileage” duty vehicle for Sgt. Ed Peters, who has reportedly been puttering around town in a 13-year-old Hyundai Sonata with a history of costly maintenance issues.
Aside from brokering this vehicle purchase, the council recognized two other police officers who have recently moved up in the agency’s ranks. Edgar Ocampo, a three-year veteran of the town’s police force, was honored on Monday for his elevation from Police Officer II to Master Police Officer. Meanwhile, Camryn Henley, who had come to Elon from the sheriff’s office, was lauded for his promotion from Master Police Officer to Patrol Sergeant.
Aside from these individual kudos, the department as a whole was recognized for its recent completion of a formal risk assessment through the N.C. League of Municipalities. Chet Effler, a public policy expert with this local government association, was on hand to share the departmental milestone with Elon’s town council.
To put this into perspective for you,” Effler informed the council’s members, “roughly 200 [agencies across the state] have pledged to do this process, but only 90 have done it. So, this places your agency among the few that have conducted the review…And just so you know what this translates to, it saves you 15 percent on your liability insurance risk pool.”
Councilman Quinn Ray was absent from Monday’s meeting.
