Statistics show that the majority of burglary and theft crimes are related to illegal drugs.

For this reason Cherokee County Jeff Shaver has decided to combine the sheriff’s department’s narcotics and criminal investigations unit and place them under the supervision of Chief Investigator Bo Jolly.

In a news release, the Sheriff says “The consolidation of units is not to diminish our focus in fighting crimes related to illegal drugs. Just the opposite, we are doubling down our efforts. In addition, we have purchased a narcotics detection trained K-9, and Deputy Michael Green will be training with him soon.”

Over the past few months, the sheriff’s department has been remodeling a building on the former Centre Municipal Airport property with additional office space and a large meeting room to conduct Sheriff’s Office training programs.

The Sheriff says he expects to be moving a team of investigators into the new offices in the next month.

This will provide a more professional work environment and hopefully improve communications between officers.

Sheriff Shaver concluded by saying “The nature of working in the field of narcotics causes a high turnover rate in employees. Time spent on new trainees decreases time spent investigating crimes. Combining units will in effect double the manpower resources to fight the overall crimes we seek to reduce. Sharing a variety of responsibilities will hopefully reduce stress on the officers. The time was right to try a different approach. We expect to have good and consistent results with these changes.”