A new sheriff in town: Rogers upends Ingram as new Lenoir County sheriff
For Lenoir County, there will be a new sheriff in town.
Republican Jackie Rogers unseated two-term Democrat Sheriff Ronnie Ingram Tuesday night by a comfortable margin of victory.
Rogers won by nearly 2,000 votes. The final result for Rogers was 10,189 (54.90%) with Ingram scoring 8,370 (45.10%) with all 22 precincts reporting.
The majority of Rogers’ votes (1,503) came from the Falling Creek precinct in Kinston. Ingram received most of his votes from the Kinston 4 precinct with 744.
Ingram would have seen his third term had he won the election and has nearly 40 years in law enforcement. Rogers is a former NC State Trooper. In 2018, Ingram, ran unopposed in the General Election. In 2014, Ingram won comfortably in his first election big against the Unaffiliated candidate Rickie A. Pearson, Sr.
Rogers, 51, is married to his wife Dawn and has two sons Drew and Carson. He received his education from Pitt Community College. As a former police officer for the city of Kinston for 8 years, Rogers served in several different titles. He was a member of the Police Community Action Team, Narcotics Detective, numerous drug task forces, SWAT team and field training officer.
In an October candidate questionnaire, Rogers said the most important issue that he believed currently faces the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office is manpower.
"I need to get into the office and access the situation more closely," Rogers said. "I am also very concerned with the drug problems we have in our county. The current leadership has not been able to resolve the personnel issues or the growing drug problems in our county."
In 2021, the Kinston Free Press reported a series on Lenoir County Sheriff's Office deputy and detention officer's compensation rates compared to surrounding agencies.
Since 2014, Ingram has continually asked county commissioners for his deputies and detention officers to receive fair salaries amid low retention rates and dangerous work conditions. By 2015, nearly 40 percent of deputies had voluntarily left the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office for other agencies and other careers.
In 2020-21, Ingram submitted the office's proposed budget after LCSO found it was 20 percent behind other sheriff offices within the state similar to Lenoir County’s population size. Instead, a pay study was approved, to which the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners approved a 5% pay increase for all county employees in June.
This article originally appeared on Kinston/Jones Free Press: A new sheriff in town: Rogers upends Ingram as new Lenoir County sheriff
