News & Observer endorsements: Our choices for Wake sheriff and Wake district attorney

Wake Sheriff

In the race for Wake County sheriff, experience is not an issue, but priorities should be.

Republican candidate Donnie Harrison served four four-year terms as Wake sheriff before losing in 2018 to current Democratic Sheriff Gerald Baker. Now, at 76, Harrison wants a fifth term. Democratic candidate Willie Rowe, 62, also has deep experience. A retired Army major, he served in the Wake County Sheriff’s Office for 28 years, 21 of them as a supervisor.

The candidates’ law-enforcement credentials are impressive. Both would improve on the performance of Baker, who lost to Rowe in a primary runoff election. Baker’s term has been marked by mismanagement, turnover and sinking morale among the office’s 1,000 employees.

Harrison and Rowe know how to restore competent management to the Wake Sheriff’s Office. What separates them is their approach to law enforcement.

Harrison, a former state trooper, wants to put more deputies on patrol and step up their training. He has, fortunately,backed off his previous support for detaining immigrants without documents for arrest by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Harrison supports no-knock raids under close supervision and opposes having a civilian review board look at complaints against deputies.

Rowe takes what he calls a “holistic” approach to law enforcement. He thinks preventing crime is as important as responding to it. Rowe, a deacon at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, would have the Sheriff’s Office become more involved in mentoring and athletic programs for young people. He would use Wake Tech’s resources to provide life skills training for jail inmates to make it less likely that they return to criminal activity. As sheriff, Rowe would create a citizens advisory committee to review his office’s performance quarterly.

On school safety, Harrison would prefer to see the Wake school system establish its own police force rather than have deputies serve as school resource officers (SROs). One member of the Wake Board of Education said Harrison’s desire to detach from the SRO program resulted in the poor selection and oversight of some deputies assigned to SRO duty.

Rowe would rather see law enforcement focus on protecting schools from intruders by patrolling parking lots and securing entrances rather than policing the students.

Harrison is a veteran whose four terms speak to his effective administration of the office. But Rowe has a better idea about preventing crime by strengthening communities. We recommend the election of Willie Rowe.

Wake District Attorney

Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, a Democrat, faced a surprising primary challenge this year from an opponent who argued that her approach to criminal prosecutions is too conservative. Now, in an even bigger surprise, she faces a Republican opponent who says she should be more flexible about settling cases instead of going to trial.

Republican candidate Jeff Dobson said, “If you talk to any criminal defense attorney, they will tell you this is the hardest county to deal with because they’re often unreasonable.”

Dobson, a criminal defense attorney, said Wake prosecutors often take weak cases to trial and lose. That approach, he said, leads to protracted jail stays for defendants and creates an unnecessary cost to taxpayers. “Lorrin says, ‘I have to let the system work,’ but she fails to understand that she is part of the system. She could speed it up,” he said.

Freeman said Dobson is applying the wrong measure. “There’s this notion that we need to keep score of wins and losses,” she said. “Our job is to let the jury decide.”

Freeman is almost assured a third term in a county that favors Democrats. She deserves it. Wake County is fortunate to have a district attorney who supports improvements in the judicial system, but also has faith in the judicial process.

We strongly recommend Lorrin Freeman for reelection.

This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 4:30 AM.