A pair of supposedly routine grant applications from Alamance County’s sheriff kicked up quite the kerfuffle when they came before the county’s board of commissioners at the end of a marathon meeting on Monday.
The county’s governing board ultimately gave its unanimous nod to these two funding requests, which seek more than $5.6 million between them from state and federal authorities. If approved, the office of Alamance County’s sheriff intends to use these funds to upgrade its detention facilities, acquire digital storage for its new body cameras, purchase a veritable catalog of equipment, and distribute bonuses to more than 300 current and future staff members.
These two applications had initially been slated for the rubber stamp treatment during a 3 1/2 hour meeting that was dominated by a public hearing about a potential moratorium on data center development. Both proposals began the evening as part of a so-called “consent agenda” of ostensibly routine and noncontroversial items that the commissioners adopted en bloc before the public hearing.
The two grant applications were nevertheless pulled from the consent agenda at the request of commissioner Pam Thompson. The only unaffiliated member of an otherwise all-Republican board, Thompson asked to have these items heard separately in view of the eye-popping sums in the grant applications.
“I just got those figures today,” she told her fellow commissioners, “and I think we should at least have a presentation if the sheriff doesn’t have a deadline in 24 hours.”
Thompson recalled that the board had previously invoked a similar level of scrutiny on a grant application that the county’s family justice center had planned to submit to the N.C. Governor’s Crime Commission.
In January of 2025, a request from this county agency appeared on the consent agenda that sought $125,000 from the state to assist Spanish-speakers who’ve experienced domestic violence. Although this grant would’ve required no match from the county, it caught the attention of commissioner Ed Priola who had it removed from the consent agenda for further discussion.
Priola went on to excoriate the application for its use of the term “Latinx,” which he found overly ideological. He also blasted the center’s plans to farm out some of its services to the Catholic Charities of Raleigh, accusing its San Antonio chapter of using federal funds to shuttle illegal immigrants over state lines. The center’s request died for lack of motion after these denunciations.
[Story continues below photos, quotes from commissioner Thompson and sheriff Johnson.]
“This county has given you $300,000 for $10,000 signing bonuses, and you’re still short. What happened to all of that money?
“You keep getting these additional people and you keep saying you’re short. We keep giving you bonuses and pay raises. There’s been raise after raise, and your detention officers are some of the highest paid in the state.”
– Alamance County commissioner Pam Thompson
“Our detention center is full, and there are people sleeping on the floor and we are 31 people short at the sheriff’s office as we’re trying to do the job that the people want us to do. we got body cameras, but you have to have digital storage for that.
”You say, sheriff, that’s a lot of money for these employees. Well, I’ve got news for you: we’re losing more people; they’re leaving for somewhere else because we’re working them half to death.”
– Alamance County sheriff Terry Johnson
Thompson didn’t recount these particulars when she referenced the justice center’s ill-fated grant application on Monday. Meanwhile, the rest of the board grudgingly agreed to remove the sheriff’s proposals from the consent agenda to be addressed after the hearing on the proposed moratorium.
The crowd that had packed Alamance County’s Historic Court House for that evening’s hearing had more or less cleared by the time that sheriff Terry Johnson strode to the podium. Johnson went on to inform the commissioners that his two grant requests are meant to address issues that he has frequently brought to the attention of the county’s governing board.
“Our detention center is full, and there are people sleeping on the floor and we are 31 people short at the sheriff’s office as we’re trying to do the job that the people want us to do,” he explained. “We got body cameras, but you have to have digital storage for that.”
Like the family justice center’s requests from 2025, Johnson’s proposals sought no funds from the county to match their prospective state and federal outlays. One of the allocations, which the sheriff hopes to obtain from the Governor’s Crime Commission, would provide up to $400,000 to buy digital storage for his agency’s new body-worn cameras. The other entails a much more staggering sum of $5,240,705 that Johnson would like to obtain from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Johnson told the commissioners that the larger of these two allocations would come from a $3 billion pot that the current Presidential administration has set aside for local law enforcement. The sheriff didn’t delve into the particulars of this program, although the documents that accompanied his grant application, identify it as a relatively new venture dubbed “Bridging Immigration-Related Deficits Experienced Nationwide,” or BIDEN – a not-so-subtle swipe at the previous Presidential administration. The purpose of this initiative is apparently to offer “law enforcement support for combatting criminal aliens, drugs, and human trafficking.”
According to these same accompanying documents, Johnson intends to use this seven-figure largesse to bankroll a “workforce stabilization and infrastructure modernization initiative,” which aims to upgrade the county’s detention facilities while addressing a persistent problem with turnover in the agency’s ranks.
A large chunk of these proceeds would go toward the renovation of a so-called jail annex to accommodate overflow from Alamance County’s jail. This building, which is located at a former state prison farm in Graham, had previously been used as a backup detention facility when Johnson was still leasing space in Alamance County’s jail to house federal immigration detainees.
Johnson summarily canceled his contract with the feds earlier this year when he realized that recent changes in state law would require him to use this jail space for the county’s own inmates. In the meantime, surging numbers have strained the detention center’s capacity, as emphasized in the documents that accompanied the grant application.
“Significant overcrowding,” these documents note, “require immediate upgrades to ensure [the jail annex] can safely and effectively support additional offenders. Essential improvements such as roof replacement, HVAC upgrades, perimeter security fencing, access-control door replacements, and a comprehensive camera system upgrade will ensure the Annex remains secure, climate-controlled, and compliant with federal and state detention standards.”
The sheriff told the commissioners that the remainder of the requested funds would be earmarked for bonuses to reduce turnover among his deputies and his detention officers. Johnson said that he plans to distribute $260,000 as signing bonuses to fill 26 now-vacant positions and another $1.4 million as a sweetener for his 291 sworn detention officers and deputies.
“You say, sheriff, that’s a lot of money for these employees,” he went on to elaborate. “Well, I’ve got news for you: we’re losing more people; they’re leaving for somewhere else because we’re working them half to death.”
The sheriff has made similar pleas on behalf of his subordinates in order to obtain funds for pay raises and bonuses from the county’s own coffers. In the summer of 2024, the commissioners also authorized Johnson to use money from his agency’s lapsed salaries to distribute $10,000 signing bonuses to his agency’s newest recruits. These bonuses eventually ceased as the sheriff’s ranks were replenished and the lapsed salaries exhausted.
As the sheriff wrapped up his lamentations on Monday, Priola cut in to seek an explanation from Thompson for the removal of these items from the consent agenda.
“What’s the catch,” the commissioner demanded. “I don’t see a hitch here.”
Thompson shot back with some reflections on Johnson’s erstwhile plans to revamp the jail annex with the proceeds from his federal detention agreement before he canceled the contract. She also took him to task over the funds he has obtained from the county for previous turnover-reduction gambits.
“This county has given you $300,000 for $10,000 signing bonuses, and you’re still short,” she exclaimed with a marked increase in volume. “What happened to all of that money?
“You keep getting these additional people and you keep saying you’re short,” the commissioner said subsequently. “We keep giving you bonuses and pay raises. There’s been raise after raise, and your detention officers are some of the highest paid in the state.”
Johnson didn’t exactly take Thompson’s criticism in stride.
“All I am trying to do is run a sheriff’s office and save our taxpayers money,” he insisted. “Our people are working very hard, Ms. Thompson . . . I’m sorry you feel this way, but I have an office to run.”
The sparring match between Thompson and Johnson grew ever more heated as the commissioner turned to the body cameras, which the sheriff introduced long after they were de rigueur at other agencies. Johnson blamed his relatively late adoption of this technology on the commissioners for rejecting his initial requests for the funds to purchase the cameras.
“You voted two times against giving us the money for body cameras,” Johnson said as he addressed Thompson directly, “and that’s on the record.”
The dialogue more or less broke down as Priola cut in to reiterate his request for an explanation of Thompson’s concerns. Thompson took umbrage at this interruption.
“Be careful, Ed,” she said with a glower.
“I get it,” Priola replied with a menacing overtone. “Thanks for warning.”
This discourse resumed as the sheriff, in response to one commissioner or another, reiterated the fact that he wasn’t seeking any funds from the county.
“There is no match,” he emphasized, “and this is not a continuation grant where the county will have to fund anything.”
Thompson had begun to recall that there was also no match for the justice center’s thwarted grant request. But she never completed the utterance as board members who weren’t involved in the fracas pressed for a vote on the sheriff’s grant applications.
Thompson went on to join her colleagues in the 5-to-0 vote to let Johnson submit his proposals. She also made sure to patch things up with the sheriff before the meeting adjourned.
“No hard feelings?” she asked.
“None,” the sheriff replied.
