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From left to right: Captain Perry Twisdale and Senior Police Officer A.M. Feingold, both of the Henderson Police Department, and Sergeant Lloyd Watkins and Sheriff Peter White, both of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office. Watkins and Feingold were both recipients of law enforcement awards from the Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers this year.
The Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers held their thirteenth annual awards banquet yesterday evening in the fellowship hall of the Pentecostal Holiness Church on Americal Road.
State officials Sen. Doug Berger and Reps. Jim Crawford and Michael Wray were present along with Vance County Commissioners Deborah Brown, Dan Brummitt, and Danny Wright. City Council members George Daye and Brenda Peace were there along with recently installed City Manager Ray Griffin.
After the Rev. Frank Sossamon introduced the program with a history of the Crime Stoppers organization, Captain Perry Twisdale and Sheriff Peter White spoke on behalf of the Henderson Police Department and the Vance County Sheriff’s Office respectively. Twisdale noted that calls and arrests are up in 2008, an observation echoed by White, who called the current climate an “economic storm”.
White went on to detail for the audience the recent introduction of substations to county law enforcement.
The sheriff touched briefly on the problems of the Vance County Jail, stating that the current population of the facility is at 184 people while the facility has only 118 beds.
“Some people know when to come to jail,” White said, noting that taxpayers are responsible for medical care while prisoners are incarcerated.
Crawford outlined expenditures by the North Carolina Assembly that aid in law enforcement and crime prevention. He said that more money had been put into the state’s crime lab, and that not only is it caught up on its cases, but future cases will be “cleared quickly”. He also said that $18.4 million has been put into gang prevention and that [Vance] needs to put in for those grants.
The twelve-term representative told the audience that the best prevention is working with homes and families.
Sheriff’s deputies showed off the skills of its K-9 corps with demonstrations of a bomb search, a narcotics search, and a bite demonstration.
Crime Stoppers started canine law enforcement in Vance County by purchasing the first two police dogs in Vance County and gifting one to the Henderson Police Department and one to the Vance County Sheriff’s Office.
Crime Stoppers awards were then distributed.
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Non-law enforcement recipients of Crime Stoppers awards and recognitions
Claire Catherwood won the Community Watch Award for the founding of the West End Community Watch.
Donna Stearns won the Local Citizen’s Award for her long history of volunteer service in Henderson and Vance County.
Blakely Bates won the Public Service Award for his enthusiastic participation in the Henderson Police Department’s Volunteers in Police Servies (VIPS) program.
The Corporate Award went to P&G Pet Care (Iams) for providing the dog food to feed the K-9s of the Sheriff’s Office and the HPD.
Quick Print in the person of Warren Nelms received the Business Award for their generous support of the Crime Stoppers program.
In a heart-rending moment, a Special Memorial Award was presented to Angie Pernell Vaughn, the widow of NC Wildlife Officer Eddie Vaughn who was recently killed in a motorcycle accident.
The Samuel “Sam” Pearson Memorial Crime Stoppers Law Enforcement Award was presented to Senior Police Officer Angela Feingold of the Henderson Police Department in recognition to her long and dedicated service to both her department and the Crime Stoppers Organization.
Sgt. Lloyd Watkins of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office was presented the Tom Long Crime Stoppers Law Enforcement Award for his meritorious service.
Lts. Tom Long and Sam Pearson were founding members of the Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers Organization.