Inside the Franklin County special operations unit: Enforcing death by distribution

Franklin County’s special operations unit is one of the leading counties in ‘death by distribution’ charges. According to the state’s department of health and human services’ preliminary data, opioid overdose emergency department visits were up in June 2023 compared to the previous year.

WRAL spent the day with Franklin County’s special operations unit on Tuesday.

“Every overdose that I’ve worked, it hasn’t been cocaine; it most cases, it hasn’t been heroine. It’s fentanyl,” the sergeant of special operations said.

For safety reasons, the sergeant will remain anonymous. He said that he, and many others in the unit, have know the first-hand the effects of drug abuse.

“We’ve seen what it’s done to people. It tears families apart,” he said. “I’ve dealt with personal family members that I know that were addicted to drugs.”

That’s where the death by distribution charge comes in. The new charge went into effect roughly at the beginning of 2020, giving drug dealers hefty consequences if they sell to someone who dies. The goal is to deter people from selling drugs.

“For [Franklin County Sheriff’s Office], anyway, I think it’s just a way for us to bring closure to families,” the sergeant said. “You can feel the pain. Just because we’re cops, doesn’t mean we don’t feel that.”

Franklin County has been aggressive in its death by distribution efforts, behind Cabarrus, Rockingham and Harnett counties. He said it’s not without its hurdles. Within the last 2 and a half years, North Carolina has fewer than 80 ‘death by distribution’ charges, according to the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts.

“Even though they made the law, it’s still a hard law to prosecute,” the sergeant said. “Instead of it being a drug case, you have to shift to more of a homicide-style investigation.”

Corporal Adam Callahan also works in the special operations unit. WRAL rode along with him on Tuesday as he patrolled the streets.

“In our county, we’re starting to see people coming from out of county, coming in our county, trying to disperse poison,” Callahan said. “Our main goal is trying to make sure they don’t come into our county. If they do, we go ahead and identify them as soon as they do and get them out.”