Mecklenburg County Sheriff Office

General information

Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (700 E. 4th Street, Charlotte, N.C. 28202)

Duties:

With nearly 1,400 employees and a budget of $108 million, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office is the third largest law enforcement agency in North Carolina. The office operates some of the most modern detention facilities in the nation:

- Jail-Central- a 1,904-bed pretrial detention and intake center
- Jail North- a 614- bed sentenced facility
- Work Release and Restitution Center- a 150-bed facility.
- Jail-Annex – a 320 bed minimum custody facility

All the facilities feature direct supervision and accommodate as many as 2,600 inmates daily. Last year, over 44,000 inmates were processed through the Arrest Processing Center.

The Civil Division serves an average of more than 9,000 legal papers each month; the Civil Judgment Unit, more than 23,471 papers annually. Deputies serving 50-B Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, handled almost 3,000 papers, serving close to 95% of the orders.

The Court Security Division provides protection for Mecklenburg County’s civil and criminal courthouses, in addition to providing bailiffs in each of the 29 courtrooms. The Subpoena Service Sector handled almost 42,833 subpoenas in the year 2008. Court-holding, or “Lock-Up” processed nearly 30,686 individuals that appeared for court. The Video Arraignment Courtroom handled over 20,000 inmates’ cases, and in 2008, more than one million people entered the courthouse, a daily average of almost 4,000 people.

During FY2009, the Permits and Registration Bureau issued 16,751 permits to purchase handguns and 3,399 concealed handgun permits. The Bureau also maintains an active registry of more than 748 sex offenders living in Mecklenburg County. Public fingerprinting services are offered for a minimal fee.