Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Reaching Out To Neighborhoods

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is trying to continue its partnership with local neighborhoods during the pandemic.

Community Service Director Sgt. Gary Howard said they have stopped community meetings, but are looking to stay connected online. Howard said the sheriff’s office can help set up community watch Facebook groups, which he said works when neighbors are connected.

“If someone is trying to scam the neighbor three roads over, they post something about it, and then all the other neighbors know about it pretty quickly that day,” Howard said. “If there’s somebody suspicious, a suspicious car or anything going on suspicious going on in the neighborhood, they post those things out and everybody in the neighborhood knows.”

Howard said the sheriff’s office is also interested in hosting open meetings online, if the community is interested. He said that keeping this dialogue open, helps law enforcement, help residents.

“That would help us be able to connect with them, see what they need,” Howard said. “Be able to give them updates on a regular basis, we can do those in a couple of different ways. One of them would be going to specific neighborhoods and have them set up on Facebook with different community groups. We could go into their group and have a digital meeting.”

However, Howard said it could be opened up to a larger community too.

“We could have a meeting, just once a month with anyone who wanted to join in and ask questions,” Howard said.

Howard said no matter the neighborhood size, residents should reach out to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office about setting up a neighborhood watch or safe community group. Howard said getting in contact is easy.

“You can get in touch with me on Facebook, I have multiple Facebooks,” Howard said. “I’m on Instagram, just look for Gary Howard and send me a private message and tell me you’re interested in doing something and we’ll be in touch with you.”

Howard said he can also be contacted about setting up a neighborhood watch or safe community group by phone at (931)-484-6176. He said Cumberland County residents can also reach out by email at ghoward@ccsheriffs.org.