Durham residents urge expansion of HEART program and oppose county funding for sheriff training facility

Dozens of Durham residents urged the County Commissioners on Monday to reject funding for a proposed sheriff’s training facility and to invest instead in the HEART unarmed crisis-response program and other social services. The county’s capital agenda includes a planned appropriation for the training facility that managers said will come back for a formal decision at the next regular meeting.

The public push came during the meeting’s public-comment period, when speakers — including representatives of the Durham People’s Alliance, the Community Safety and Wellness Task Force and Durham Beyond Policing — urged the county to expand HEART countywide and to direct scarce public dollars toward housing, mental-health services, school supports and alternatives to armed responses. “We urge the commission as well as Sheriff Birkhead to work collaboratively on a comprehensive approach to public safety,” said Nicholas Greber Grace, identifying himself with the Durham People’s Alliance.

Supporters of HEART said the program has shown results at the city level and said consolidating 911 dispatch and routing appropriate calls to an unarmed HEART team would free sworn officers for law-enforcement duties. “The task force unanimously selected the expansion of the HEART program into the county and into Durham Public Schools as the single most pressing public safety issue in our county,” said Jennifer Carroll, who identified herself as the policy expert chair of the Community Safety and Wellness Task Force.

Speakers described the proposed sheriff training project in sharply different terms. Opponents called it an unnecessary expansion of policing infrastructure, citing concerns about rising homelessness and unmet mental-health needs. “Every dollar that we spend on something is a dollar that we’re not spending on something else,” said Britney Price, a public-health worker who asked commissioners not to fund what she called a “$16,000,000 expansion.” Other speakers cited a range of figures they had seen referenced in planning documents or media coverage, and asked that the board prioritize alternatives such as HEART, school mental-health staffing and housing.

County staff and the sheriff’s office presented technical details about the training facility when the item appeared on the meeting agenda and in later discussion. County staff described the project as a modernization of an existing firing range and support facilities, with a roughly 10,000-square-foot classroom building, new berms and a lead-capture system. County engineering said the site is a former landfill and that the design team had taken steps to avoid building foundations in areas of fill and to cap and monitor the site during construction. Deputy director Perry Manns said the project is being designed to meet sustainability goals, including solar panels and EV charging.

Sheriff Birkhead told commissioners he supports HEART-style co-responder models and said he has discussed options with the city and task-force leaders. “I have several colleagues who in law enforcement … started co-responder models within their agencies,” Birkhead said, adding that questions on scalability and logistics remain. Commissioners pressed county staff and the sheriff’s office for follow-up steps on HEART; County Manager Hager said staff would return with possible next steps and a proposed timeline for further discussion.

The item on the county’s consent list tied to the training facility was read aloud during the work session (agenda item 240645) as a capital project amendment that would appropriate limited-obligation bond funds and authorize a construction-manager-at-risk maximum price. No final vote on that appropriation occurred during the work session; the manager said the consent agenda items will be considered at the board’s next regular meeting.

Commissioners and staff also answered residents’ questions about oversight, public-access limits and how training at the facility would relate to existing training at Durham Tech and other regional venues. Sheriff Birkhead said the facility would not create a separate city-style policing presence and denied multiple media-driven claims that it would be a regional “cop city.” County engineers said modern ballistic berms and an enclosed tower would reduce noise and that the firing-range lead collection system is designed to reclaim nearly all spent lead for proper disposal or reuse.

The public-comment period and the commissioners’ discussion also included repeated references to HB 10 — a state law that has raised community questions about immigration enforcement and local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Sheriff Birkhead said the office would follow state law but also described ongoing local cooperation with immigrant communities and judges to manage potential effects.

What happens next: the training-facility capital appropriation remains on the consent agenda to be considered at a future regular meeting. Commissioners asked staff for additional written detail on costs, operating budgets, projected impacts on recruitment and retention, an environmental monitoring plan for the former landfill site, and options for scaling HEART countywide.

Ending: Commissioners did not reach a final vote on the training-facility appropriation during the work session. Several commissioners said they wanted a clearer plan showing how HEART expansion would be scaled and funded in tandem with any investments in law-enforcement facilities, and staff said they would return with further information and a proposed schedule for follow-up.