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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Chipp Bailey’s career as the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County got off to a dramatic start. Then-Sheriff Jim Pendergraph left mid-term to take a position with the Department of Homeland Security. Then-Chief Deputy Bailey wanted the job. So did another man. WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty asked Bailey, “When you hear the name Nick Mackey, what comes to mind?” Bailey paused and said, “Ah, very, ah, tenuous time in the history of this Sheriff’s Office. It was something we were all caught up in and didn’t really understand.”Β
Bailey says he had the support of virtually every leader in Charlotte. But when the county’s Democratic Executive Committee voted, Mackey won by a landslide. It was a head scratcher for many. Mackey had problems with the IRS. He was accused of falsifying time records when he was a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer. And, he refused to release his personnel file.Β
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After months of turmoil and an investigation, problems with precinct organization got the vote thrown out. Commissioners installed Bailey as the sheriff.
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Bailey says, “I haven’t had any contact with Nick Mackey at all. I’ve seen him a couple places. I don’t think he really cared to talk to me and I certainly don’t care to talk to him. I don’t have anything to say to him. He does whatever he does now and I’ve been running this agency. There’s no animosity. I mean, frankly, he galvanized this agency, what he was doing, brought people in this agency closer than anything I could have done at the time.”
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In 2007, there were 2,900 inmates in the Mecklenburg County jail. Consultants said it would cost $350 million tax payer dollars to build a new jail. Bailey’s mantra was born: “build character, not jails.”
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For example, the Mecklenburg County jail is the only one in North Carolina with a high school for youth offenders. Bailey says, “The light bulb came on several years back when a 17-year-old told some of the counselors and teachers, ‘I’m getting ready to be released. Can I stay in jail until I graduate high school?'” Bailey paused to choke back tears as he continues, “That was important. We knew that we were making a difference at that point.”Β
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Today, the jail population has dropped from 2,900 to 1,600. He says people tried to talk him out of retiring. But Bailey, a published author, wants to relax and write some more books. He is ready to turn the reigns over to Irwin Carmichael, who won election this past Tuesday. He urges Carmichael to rely on the people around him. And to never stop caring.
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Bailey says, “What we’re here to do on this earth is to make a difference and help those who need it most. And certainly the 1,600 or so people I have in that jail today are probably those who need it the most.”Β
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Sheriff Bailey also talked to WCCB Charlotte about Patrick Cannon’s conviction, whether the 287G immigration program is still effective and what local crime cases have impacted him the most. Click here for that bonus footage.
