Durham Stop Cop City and other groups held events on New Years Eve and January 4th protesting the county jail and the Durham County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) $18 million plan to expand a training facility on Electra Road. The People’s Alliance (PA), one of Durham’s political machines, released a statement on January 2nd that supported partial concessions to the activists.
The series of events flowed from a November 12th protest when around 30 people with organizations such as Durham Beyond Policing interrupted the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to oppose the sheriff’s training facility. In response, board chair Nida Allam delayed discussion of the issue to a work session on January 6th. There was little public awareness of ‘cop city’ before the November 12th protest. There wasn’t a single newspaper article about the $18 million project prior to that date.
NYE Event
Durham Stop Cop City, Triangle Radical Events, and three other organizations released a collaborative post about a New Years Eve protest at the Durham County jail [1]. The activists can be seen beaming slogans onto the detention facility walls with a powerful projector. Three of the slogans were:
Stop cop cities everywhere
Fight until every prison is empty
Dream until every golf course is a sex forest
The organizers of the News Years Eve action said, “Let’s give a warm reminder to the people locked away we have not forgotten them, and a reminder to their cagers we have also not forgotten them. The county of Durham, which runs the jail, is currently proposing a $16 million expansion to their police training center, another cop city. We say no to the expansion, no to the original training center, and no to the jail!” [2]
Expanding the DCSO training facility would have a total cost of $18 million, according to the News and Observer. The county commission are weighing approval of $16.6 million. The rest of the money is already spent [3].
The New Years Eve action builds on years of protests against the jail, located in downtown Durham, which has been criticized for its high number of custodial deaths. Eleven people have died at the detention facility since 2015.
People’s Alliance Statement
On January 2nd, the PA released a statement that it would be “premature” to approve the $18 million project without first expanding the HEART program to Durham County and Durham Public Schools (DPS) [11]. Established by city government in 2022, HEART sends unarmed social work specialists to some 911 calls.
All current BOCC members, including three newcomers, were endorsed by the political machine in 2024. Allam and Wendy Jacobs, leading figures in the PA faction of Durham politics, are the board’s only returning members. Either all or most county commissioners seem likely to vote in favor of the sheriff's training facility. No previous or current BOCC member has publicly opposed the project.
Saturday in Central Park
Durham Beyond Policing, Somos Durham, and other groups held a press conference and rally against the $18 million project on January 4th. Around 60 people gathered in Central Park on Saturday to listen to speeches warning against building a ‘cop city’ in Durham.
“How many of my friends could have avoided the traps of over-policing and the devastating legacy of the war on drugs,” said Brandon Love, “The war on everything that’s not elite, wealthy, and the so-called American dream” [12].
He also said, “Today we are asking [BOCC] to vote ‘no’ on investing nearly $20 million of the people’s money on a planned renovation of the sheriff’s training facility here in Durham.” The crowd in Central Park cheered appreciatively when Love closed his remarks with a call for HEART expansion to Durham County and DPS.
Quinny Sanchez Lopez from Somos Durham connected the DSCO training facility with the threat of HB10, a newly passed state law, to communities with undocumented people. Lopez said, "With our North Carolina General Assembly, they require sheriff departments to collaborate with ICE so that when an immigrant is detained they will go through ICE detention and they're at risk of being separated from their families. So when we're here in Durham County and they're saying we need to fund more training for the sheriffs, we need to fund a training facility, that to me as an immigrant poses a risk."
According to ACLU North Carolina, HB10 forces sheriffs inform ICE if they can't determine the immigration status of people charged with "some felony offenses, 50B violations, and certain A1 misdemeanors". The new state law also requires sheriffs to detain people suspected of being undocumented for 48 hours if requested by ICE [13].
BOCC Work Session
On January 6th, the BOCC revisited the $18 million project. The sheriff's training facility was the main focus of the 30-minute public comment at the start of Monday’s meeting.
A public comment was made by Dr. Jennifer Carroll, an NC State assistant professor of medical anthropology, a former chair of the Durham County Community Safety & Wellness Task Force. In May 2024, according to Dr. Carroll, the BOCC asked the task force to prioritize steps to improve public safety. The group unanimously selected HEART expansion into Durham County and DPS as their top recommendation [14, timestamp 14:30].
Dr. Carroll continued, “The people of this city want that much more than any expanded training program for the sheriff … the sheriff has been the single largest obstructionist force in stopping the expansion of HEART into the county. He has refused after repeated asks of city and county leadership to provide call data … so that the types of call that they’re responding to can be meaningfully analyzed to assess needs in the community”.
Mike Sistrom, coordinator of the Jail Ministry of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, also spoke at Monday's meeting. He pointed out that discussion of the $18 million project should also focus on Durham County jail, which is run by the DCSO. Sistrom, former member of the county's Community Safety & Wellness Task Force, mentioned that the group's May 2024 report had recommended improvements to "conditions, programs, services, and policies" at the jail [16:30].
Sistrom said, “There is much less community awareness about and advocacy for the detainees of the jail than the HEART program. The jail, though, is the single largest department in the sheriff’s office and among the most unique law enforcement responsibilities of a sheriff. I’d argue that the commissioners are in a position urge the sheriff to engage on the jail issues, if not as a precondition to approving the training facility request, then at least in recognition for their support for it. Chair Allam has begun to try to set up that discussion on the jail and we’re grateful to her for that.”
The county commissioners discussed ‘cop city’ in the third hour of Monday’s meeting, beginning with a PowerPoint presentation by the DCSO [2:24:00]. In response to a request from Allam to share 911 call data, Sheriff Clarence Birkhead flatly contradicted Dr. Carroll. He claimed that the data had been shared with the Community Safety & Wellness Task Force years ago [2:44:00]. Later in the meeting, Birkhead also claimed to be a strong supporter of the HEART program aside from a long list of logistical reservations about expansion [2:59:00].
Allam asked County Manager Claudia Hager whether she could present a plan for HEART expansion at a work session in February or March [2:50:00]. Hager later promised next steps by March or April [3:17:00].
BOCC member Mike Lee said, “I don’t see this as a HEART program expansion or the training center, I see it as both”. Lee claimed he was asked to leave the January 4th protest against the sheriff's training facility and ended his remarks by denying any similarities between the Electra Road expansion and the notorious ‘cop city’ project in Atlanta [2:54:30].
Jacobs made it clear she was in favor of HEART expansion. She did not clearly state her position on the $18 million project but at several points spoke as though its passage were taken for granted. Jacobs said that HEART expansion would improve the county's mental health crisis and pointed out that more than half of detainees in the Durham County jail suffered from mental illnesses. Jacobs also noted that HEART expansion could help to guard immigrant communities against the legal impacts of HB10.
BOCC member Michelle Burton said she was in favor of HEART expansion and also supported the DCSO training facility. She framed her support for the $18 million project in terms of labor rights, since the existing site relies upon a portable toilet [3:38:00].
The issue of the portable toilet, brought up ad nauseam by proponents of 'cop city', evidently can't be solved by building a bathroom but requires a "new outdoor gun range and 10,000-square-foot classroom building with lockers and showers". According to the News and Observer, the county commission will vote next week on whether to approve the $18 million project [15].
Work Cited
"Jan. 1 post." Instagram account of Triangle Radical Events and others, www.instagram.com/p/DETdkzDSXn2/.
"Dec. 20 post." Instagram account of Durham Prison Letters and others, www.instagram.com/p/DDzjVuQRI_1/.
Moore, Mary Helen. “Group Protests $18M Durham Sheriff’s Office Training Facility, Linking It to ‘Cop City.’” News and Observer, 15 Nov. 2024, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article295464889.html.
Bridges, Virginia, and Joe Johnson. “Demonstrators Stop Traffic in Downtown Durham to Protest Jail Deaths.” News and Observer, 8 Nov. 2017, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article183401176.html.
Bridges, Virginia, and Dan Kane. “‘I Want Answers.’ Jail-death Probe Reveals Missed Checks for Sick Inmates.” News and Observer, 16 Feb. 2019, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article226196920.html.
Schultz, Mark, and Virginia Bridges. “Fiancee, Family Want to Know How Man Died at Durham County Jail.” Durham Herald Sun, 29 May 2018, www.heraldsun.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article212035454.html.
Bridges, Virginia. “Man Died After Catching COVID-19 in Durham Jail. Why Didn’t the County or State Say So?” News and Observer, 19 Oct. 2020, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article246496225.html.
Hajela, Ashad, and Mark Schultz. “NC Finds No Deficiencies After Death of Woman Detained at Durham County Jail.” News and Observer, 29 Jan. 2021, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article248637390.html.
Hajela, Ashad. “Man Who Died in Durham County Jail Was 35 Years Old, Sheriff’s Office Says.” News and Observer, 26 Apr. 2021, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article250901329.html.
Sánchez-Guerra, Aaron. “Durham Jail Detainee Who Died in Hospital Had Attempted Suicide, Sheriff’s Office Says.” News and Observer, 8 Aug. 2022, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article263227543.html.
“PA Statement for HEART Expansion and 911 Consolidation.” People’s Alliance, 2 Jan. 2025, www.durhampa.org/pa_statement.
"Jan. 4 post." Instagram account of Durham Beyond Policing, www.instagram.com/p/DEa0BQTTb0L/.
“HB 10: Require Sheriffs to Cooperate With I.C.E.” ACLU of North Carolina, 20 Nov. 2024, www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/en/legislation/hb-10-require-sheriffs-cooperate-ice.
“Durham BOCC Work Session Jan 6th, 2025.” YouTube account of Durham County, 6 Jan. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_l-VcPsSeI.
Moore, Mary Helen. “$16M for Durham Sheriff’s Office Training Facility Is Going to a Vote. Here’s When.” News and Observer, 6 Jan. 2025, www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article298053403.html.