Special Operations

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Mobile Command Post consist of a communication room and an incident command staff conference room. The communications center is equipped with radio communications, cellular phone communications, video, telescoping camera, satellite internet, and many other types of specialized technical equipment, including the ACU 1000 radio system. The vehicle is self-supportive and available to respond to a variety of situations, such as Homeland Security Incidents, Crime Prevention Programs, Traffic Control Situations, and Criminal Investigation support.

The MCP has been used in a variety of events in our communities. The vehicle has also taken part in Homeland Security trainings and has served as an incident command post during these trainings. The vehicle is currently operated by members of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office specifically trained in the operation of the vehicle.

The purpose of the Computer Crimes Section is to provide a greater level of expertise in technology-related investigations by assisting district detectives and other members of the sheriff’s office by performing a structured examination of the digital evidence submitted to the computer forensic laboratory while maintaining a documented chain of evidence in order to find out exactly what happened on a computer or other digital media and who was responsible for it. The Computer Crimes Section also assists other local, state and federal agencies in the investigation of technology-based criminal offenses as needed. 

Operations of the Computer Crimes Section include, but are not limited to:

• Assist in the execution of search warrants for the collection of digital evidence
• Assist district detectives with the proper handling of items containing possible digital evidence
• Forensic Analysis of digital evidence from the following:
  • Computer hard drives
  • Computer CDs and DVDs
  • Removable devices i.e.; thumb drives/flash drives, digital camera cards, floppy diskettes
  • PDAs
  • Cell phones

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Property and Evidence Unit is responsible for maintaining, storing, and disposing of all property taken into law enforcement custody. Property taken as evidence must be carefully safeguarded to prevent contamination and ensure its value in court.

An important function of this unit is the proper and timely disposal of property. This includes the return of property to its rightful owner or the destruction of items as prescribed by law. Under the general supervision of the Evidence Sergeant, the GCSO Property Clerks are responsible for the efficient operation of the GCSO property and evidence unit. They perform a variety of clerical functions of a difficult and responsible nature, centering around the intake, processing, maintenance, and dispersal of law enforcement related property, and associated statistical reports.

We strongly recommend that you telephone the Evidence Sergeant or GCSO Property Clerks to make an appointment before coming to GCSO should you wish to recover property or evidence in our custody. These individuals are the only department members authorized to release property - and can only do so in conformance with applicable state, federal law, and departmental policy.

The Crime Repression Team was formed to suppress street level crime, including gang and youth violence, and conduct special surveillance operations.

Since its inception, the CRT has increased its areas of responsibility to other types of street crime which can be proactively addressed by doing surveillance, serving search warrants, using informants, and conducting undercover operations. CRT serves as a tactical unit response to assist patrol, narcotics, and other divisions as needed as well as assistance in high-risk search warrant service.

One (1) sergeant and six (6) deputies work in this unit and focus on selected criminal targets in Guilford County. All of the personnel assigned to the CRT are among the most experienced in the department, especially in the area of surveillance and technical operations. CRT actively solicits tips from other officers and members of the public regarding suspected criminal activity of an ongoing, chronic nature.

The mission of the CRT is to reduce violent street crime, with a focus on our repeat offenders, through the strict monitoring, arresting, and prosecuting of those groups or individuals who may cause such crimes to occur. To accomplish this mission CRT uses mobile surveillance, ground surveillances, technical operations and at times undercover operations.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Gang Intelligence Unit is assigned to the Crime Repression Team in Special Operations Division.

The primary goal of the unit is to gather and develop information involving gang activity, and to rapidly investigate the information as it relates to criminal activity. Identify gangs, gang members, and any associate of gangs through a validation process. Provide investigative assistance to the field districts and detention facilities concerning gang related criminal activity. Maintain an intelligence data base for all sworn officers for access on gang intelligence.

The Gang Intelligence Unit coordinates standardized procedures with the Greensboro Detention Facility, High Point Detention Facility, and the Sheriff’s Prison Farm for gathering gang intelligence information, the assembly of information and the storing of information. Provide training for officers of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office both sworn and non-sworn in gang recognition and interviewing techniques. Conduct criminal investigations in conjunction with investigators of other divisions and field districts.

The Internet is the most powerful information tool ever created and can enhance a child's education like no other resource. However, its very nature creates the potential for danger.

A recent survey revealed that one (1) in five (5) teens has received an unwanted online request to engage in sexual activities or provide sexual information. One (1) in four (4) has been exposed to online pornography. Two-thirds of North Carolina households have a computer and almost half of the homes in North Carolina have Internet access.

The purpose of our Internet Crimes against Children program is to:

• Intervene and stop individuals who use the Internet to entice a child to meet with them for sexual purposes.
• Investigate and prosecute those who possess, create, or distribute child pornography.
• Educate the public about the dangers that exist for minors on the Internet.

The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is a computer system that processes and searches latent fingerprints through a ten-print database. The ten-print database is compiled from the ten print cards that are submitted to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) by all law enforcement agencies throughout the state of North Carolina. Utilizing the AFIS system, latent fingerprints from crime scenes may be searched through the state AFIS database and an identification of the suspect may be achieved. There are currently over 1 million fingerprint cards in the state database, which translates into over 10 million fingerprints that can be searched.

The main goal of the AFIS section is identification, whether the identification is a person, a fingerprint, a palm print, or a footwear impression. Digital imaging systems, photography, alternate light sources, and the AFIS system are utilized to achieve this goal. We assist the detectives and officers of the law enforcement community in identifying perpetrators and solving crimes.

The purpose of the AFIS section is to provide assistance to the contributing agencies in analyzing, comparing, searching and identifying persons, latent fingerprints, palm prints and footwear impression evidence. The AFIS section’s three main contributing agencies are the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department and the Greensboro and High Point Police Departments. The section also accepts priority cases from the surrounding counties of Alamance, Caswell, Randolph, and Rockingham. The three (3)-person unit has been operating for the county since March 1994.

Fingerprints are used as a positive means of identification because fingerprints are permanent and unique. No two (2) persons have the same fingerprints. The first step in submitting a fingerprint through AFIS is latent entry. This is the process where the fingerprint image is captured, the fingerprint minutiae (ridge characteristics) are plotted, descriptive data is entered, and the fingerprint is sent to the database to be searched. A respondent list of possible matches of the latent print to the ten-print database is returned. The latent fingerprint is then visually compared to the respondents’ fingerprints and a positive identification, or a non-identification is made. If a positive identification or “hit” is made, the inked ten-print card of the suspect is located and a manual comparison of the inked fingerprint to the latent fingerprint is done and the identification from AFIS is verified. So far, AFIS has identified over 1,800 suspects. The State Bureau of Investigation has upgraded the main AFIS system and latent palm prints can now be searched and identified through the AFIS system in the same manner as fingerprints.

Footwear impression evidence left at a crime scene can also be compared by the AFIS unit. Photographs or lifts of the unknown footwear impressions can be compared to the suspects’ shoes. A positive identification of a footwear impression can place the suspect at the scene of the crime.

Narcotics investigates all narcotics complaints received from citizens. The Unit also proactively investigates, infiltrates, and arrests narcotic traffickers, and those involved in narcotic trafficking organizations, and drug labs. Narcotic detectives frequently interact with district and other division deputies, providing assistance in street level narcotic enforcement in Guilford County regarding narcotics complaints and law enforcement agencies at every level.

Vice proactively investigates any and all complaints regarding illicit vice and related conditions throughout the county. Detectives employ the use of all-available technological resources and traditional investigative methods to preserve the quality of life in Guilford County.

Crisis Negotiations Team

The Crisis Negotiations Team consists of 14 officers who volunteer for this duty in addition to their assigned duties. The mission of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Negotiations Team to save lives and prevent or minimize violence through communication with persons in crisis. In doing so, the safety of the innocents and officers involved will always be foremost in the goal of peaceful resolution to any crisis.

Honor Guard

The Honor Guard team consists of 19 sworn and non-sworn officers and a team leader.

The Honor Guard will provide military honors at funeral and burial services for a current or retired sworn or non-sworn officer, for officers from other jurisdictions who are killed in the line of duty, and for other special ceremonies designated by the Sheriff.

Motorcycle Team

The primary duty of our motorcycle team is to assist patrol and other sections in the Sheriff’s Office as needed. The primary concentration for our team is on community-oriented programs and being an assist unit for other uniformed officers. Our team is heavily involved in interagency departmental activities such as Booze it & Lose it (DWI), Click it or Ticket, and Operation Stop Arm checkpoint campaigns. 

Our Motorcycle Team conducts escorts involving governmental or dignitary personnel, funerals and other special events which are approved by the Sheriff. We regularly escort events such as the annual Victory Junction Ride, Special Olympics Torch Run, Camp Carefree Charity Ride, as well as others. We regularly participate in local parades such as, Summerfield’s Founders Day Parade, High Point’s Veterans Day Parade, Jamestown’s 4th of July parade. We participate in Christmas Parades in Jamestown, High Point, Pleasant Garden, and Stokesdale.

Our team has four (4) fully dressed police equipped Harley Davidson’s and four (4) active members with one (1) reserve member. Our team members are dedicated to furthering the Sheriff’s Office connectivity with the schools and communities we serve. We participate in community-based events such as National Night Out and other school and neighborhood-based community outreach programs.

Team participation is on a voluntary basis, a large portion of their participation is during the weekend. The team members have a deep commitment to bringing our communities we live and work in together through their interactions during these events.

The Sheriff’s Office Motorcycle Team members and local allied agencies train monthly. We have an annual in-service certification course.

Sheriff's Emergency Response Team

The Guilford County Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team is staffed by 36 Guilford County employees. Included on the team are tactical operators, tactical paramedics, command staff, and support personnel. All team members have additional job functions when not training or being utilized for an emergency operation. All members are on a 24/7 call out basis.

The Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team is sub-divided into several teams, each supervised by a team leader and an assistant team leader. Members assigned to each team have a variety of specialized training including breaching, less-lethal munitions, chemical munitions and precision marksman operations. The command staff consists of a Captain (team commander) and a Lieutenant (assistant team commander).

The Team is equipped and trained to respond to any tactical situation, including barricaded suspects, hostage situations, search/arrest warrant operations, dignitary protection missions, terrorist events, incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, and any other tactical operation that may arise. The Guilford County Sheriff's Office Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team has undertaken on the enormous task of equipping, training, and preparing its personnel to respond to all chemical, biological, nuclear, radioactive, and explosives (C.B.N.R.E.) related incidents in the county where they have exclusive jurisdiction.

Underwater Recovery Team

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Underwater Recovery Team is responsible for the search and rescue of victims in an aquatic environment, and the search, recovery and preservation of criminal evidence, not limited to cadavers, weapons, transportation vehicles, and other objects. The Team utilizes specialized equipment, training and personnel that separate it from standard recreational diving.

The Team is currently comprised of sworn and non-sworn members from the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office. All members of the team are required to be certified through PADI. Training is conducted on a monthly basis that covers basic skills, search/recovery techniques and emergency drills.

In North Carolina and across America, millions of deaths and injuries are caused because people don't use safety belts and child passenger safety seats.

Read More Research shows that appeals to "do the right thing" don't work for the people who don't use belts. What gets them to buckle up is high visibility enforcement. That means checkpoints and traffic tickets for drivers not using belts.

North Carolina's "Click It or Ticket" program began in 1993 to increase seat belt and child safety use rates through stepped-up enforcement of the state's seat belt law. Nearly every law enforcement agency in the state participates in "Click It or Ticket," one of the most intensive law enforcement efforts of its kind.

North Carolina's "Click It or Ticket" program is so successful that it serves as a model for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). States throughout the country conduct "Click It or Ticket" campaigns, increasing awareness of seat belt safety daily.

The "Booze It & Lose It" campaign zeros in on drunken drivers with innovative and extensive anti-driving while impaired (DWI) enforcement and education.

Sobriety checkpoints are continually set up in all North Carolina counties as part of the state's highly effective anti-drunk driving campaign.

Law officers use six (6) mobile breath-alcohol testing units, better known as BATMobiles, to increase the efficiency of on-site DWI processing. Each BATMobile is equipped with workstations for Intoxilyzer 5000 breath test instruments, cellular telephones, computers, officers' workstations, magistrates' work area, lavatory, DWI checkpoint signs, traffic cones, traffic vests, search batons, screening tests devices, and all other necessary equipment and supplies for processing DWI suspects.

Vision Zero is a strategy to substantially reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries with a long term goal of zero. Vision Zero at its core takes a collaborative and data driven approach to traffic related deaths and serious injuries. Vision Zero Guilford County focuses on identifying the key aspects of why the fatalities and serious injuries are occurring and taking effective steps to prevent them in the future.

Current trends in fatalities and serious injuries make clear that new methods need to be tried to improve safety outcomes. Vision Zero Guilford County, is not expected to recreate the wheel, but join many wheels together, through collaborative partnerships with other local law enforcement agencies and first responders, moving in unison to save lives!

Why are we doing it?

• Traffic deaths and severe injuries are acknowledged to be preventable.
• Human life and health are prioritized within all aspects of transportation systems.
• Acknowledgement that human error is inevitable, and transportation systems should be forgiving.
• Safety work should focus on systems-level changes above influencing individual behavior.
• Speed is recognized and prioritized as the fundamental factor in crash severity.
• Recognizes individuals have the responsibility to abide by the systems, laws, and policies.