Harnett County leaders add sheriffs taser purchase, retiree gun sales and jail body scanner to consent agenda

Harnett County commissioners voted to place three Sheriffs Office equipment requests on the consent agenda: a five-year purchase of 75 replacement tasers from Accent Enterprise, the sale of two service firearms to retiring officers for $1 each, and the acquisition of a full-body person scanner for the county jail.

The requests were presented by Major Gary McNeil of the Sheriffs Office. Major McNeil said the county has not replaced its tasers in several years and that the proposed replacement would let the office purchase all 75 devices and spread payments over five years. He said the upgraded units can fire two probes without reloading, and the purchase proposal includes cartridges.

"We've not replaced our tasers in a number of years. It's just time to start replacing them with this proposal. We'll be able to replace them all at one time and then spread the payments over five years," Major Gary McNeil said.

Major McNeil also asked the board to approve the countys customary practice of selling service weapons to qualifying retirees. He identified the retirees as Lieutenant Scott Jeffers and Detective Josh Heasley and said both met the department's criteria for the $1 sale.

The third request covers a tech-84 full-body scanner, described by Major McNeil as an x-ray-type walkthrough device for detention use to detect contraband and weapons. He told the board that the purchase will be paid with a state legislative grant that already has been allocated to the county.

A member of the public who spoke during the meeting asked whether the scanner captures facial images and expressed concern after hearing rumors in the community. A county official responded that the unit described is a full-body scanner from head to toe and confirmed the device is intended to detect contraband; the public comment was recorded but not attributed to a named speaker in the packet.

Commissioners directed staff to add all three items to the consent agenda for a subsequent meeting; the transcript records the items were "added to the consent agenda" for later formal approval.

What happens next: the requests will appear on the consent agenda for a future meeting where the board will vote to finalize the purchases and the retiree sales. The scanner purchase is tied to already awarded state grant funding, according to Major McNeil, while the taser purchase is structured as a five-year payment agreement with a return clause if funds are not available in future years.

Votes at the meeting were procedural: each item was moved onto the consent agenda rather than taken up for immediate recorded roll-call votes.