Growth in JoCo:We Have Outgrown Our Current Level of Deputy Staffing

A recent public-records response confirmed that 110 deputies are trained in specialized pursuit-termination tools. Even if the true number is slightly higher, using 110 as a baseline makes one thing undeniable: Johnston County has outgrown its current level of deputy staffing.

Johnston County now has more than 257,000 residents, with population growth of roughly 36 to 38 percent over the last decade. State projections show the county approaching 290,000 residents by 2030. Development is not slowing down; it is accelerating, and it is pushing into areas that will depend solely on the Sheriff’s Office for protection.

The county’s development patterns make this clear. Throughout 2025, Johnston County approved dozens of new residential subdivisions across nearly every township. These ranged from smaller projects of ten to twenty homes to major developments with fifty, sixty, and in one case more than one hundred new lots. In total, hundreds of new residential lots were approved in unincorporated areas—neighborhoods that rely entirely on the Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement. This growth is not concentrated in one area; it is countywide and stretches deep into rural corridors where deputies already travel long distances to reach calls.

These new developments add up to a simple reality: every lot becomes a home, every home becomes a family, and every family eventually generates calls for service—traffic collisions, alarms, disturbances, welfare checks, property crimes, and emergencies. When that growth is spread across 795 square miles, one of the largest geographic areas in North Carolina, response times and coverage become directly tied to how many deputies are on the road.

Meanwhile, deputy staffing has remained nearly flat.

This imbalance is no longer sustainable. Modern law enforcement requires the staffing, resources, and planning to match the county’s explosive growth. As Sheriff, my focus is to modernize and grow the office to meet these demands—putting more deputies on the road, improving response times, strengthening coverage in high-growth areas, and building a long-term recruiting and retention strategy that keeps Johnston County safe for years to come.

Johnston County has changed dramatically. It is time for its Sheriff’s Office to change with it.

Randy Ackley Candidate for Johnston County Sheriff