March 5, 2025

Dear Honorable Members of the Durham County Commission:

As you do the difficult work to finalize a budget for the coming fiscal year, the People’s Alliance has several recommendations that we developed through a democratic approval process involving our membership which we share below. We urge you to adopt them together as a single set of proposals.

The People’s Alliance advances progressive issues and policies through research, organizing,  advocacy, and democratic engagement. We envision an inclusive Durham with fair social and economic conditions where. Each person and family will have the same rights and access to services that they need to thrive and Durham will lead the state and nation by partnering, energizing, and supporting progressive policy goals. 

Our County FY26 Budget Priorities include the following: 

Fully fund the Durham Board of Education Budget Request for FY 2026. The People's Alliance Education Team specifically supports the following priorities which, if not included in this year's BOE request should be included for consideration in the next fiscal year: 

• Provide funding for fully and faithfully implementing restorative practices within Durham Public Schools.
• Raise wages for DPS transportation staff to match Go Triangle. Adequately staff and support the DPS transportation department to ensure that all students who need bus service receive it.

Fund the newly formed 501(c)3 Carolina Parent Defenders in the amount of $250,000. The PA Child and Family Policy team supports an initial grant to the Carolina Parent Defenders (CPD) from the Board of Commissioners to help stabilize and reunify families in Durham County. CPD offers a holistic legal representation model combined with early defense to protect and stabilize families involved in the child welfare system and head off a family crisis if possible.

In addition, our board respectfully urges you to consider expanding the City’s HEART program to the County, and to pursue whatever budgetary, planning, and administrative activities may be necessary to accomplish this in partnership with the Sheriff.  

Thank you for your careful consideration of these recommendations. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in greater detail and respond to any questions or concerns you have.

People’s Alliance calls for Agreements on HEART Expansion and 911 system
consolidation prior to Durham County approving funding for the Sheriff’s Proposed New
Training Facility on Electra Road

At the January 6, 2025, work session, the Durham Board of County Commissioners will consider
a request from Sheriff Clarence Birkhead to approve a firing range upgrade and training facility
construction at Electra Road. This facility was previously considered and is included in the
County’s capital improvement plan, but to move forward, it requires an additional “yes” vote to
obligate the County to a limited obligation bond worth upwards of $16 million. The Sheriff
Office’s current facility was built in the 1980s, and the upgrade would include a
10,000-square-foot building with classrooms, bathrooms, and magazine storage.

The People’s Alliance believes in a holistic and collaborative approach to public safety. Our
Durham law enforcement officers face difficult, and at times, dangerous challenges in their work. We agree with the Sheriff that all of our law enforcement officers must be rigorously and conscientiously trained; certainly, all county staff, regardless of role, deserve appropriate bathroom facilities at their worksite. Armed response, however, is only one aspect of community safety. Many of Durham’s emergency calls do not require an armed response at all, but would be better served by unarmed mental health responders trained in de-escalation and care navigation. Surveys show a majority of armed law enforcement officers agree. The People’s Alliance is proud that the City of Durham is a national leader in holistic, empathic approaches to
nonviolent emergency response with the HEART program–a program that permits armed law enforcement to concentrate on situations that truly demand their unique skills.

The People’s Alliance is frustrated, however, that despite overwhelming support, the HEART
program has not yet been expanded to Durham County or Durham Public Schools. All five
County Commissioners expressed strong support for HEART expansion in their 2024 People’s
Alliance PAC questionnaires. One apparent reason for this delay has been the segregation of
911 call services between the City and the County. The Sheriff currently controls county 911
services. The City and County of Durham are one community. This segregation disadvantages
county residents who are denied access to HEART response teams. We all deserve a
collaborative approach to public safety. The People’s Alliance calls upon Sheriff Birkhead to
enter a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Durham to expand HEART services
(administered by the same City leadership) to the County and the schools, and to merge and
integrate 911 call response. Until we have corrected this lapse, which impedes the appropriate
utilization of unarmed response teams in the County and schools, it would be premature to
invest yet more into armed response in the County.

People’s Alliance urges Sheriff Birkhead to engage City and County leadership and urges all parties to expedite within ninety days any and all intergovernmental agreements required to expand HEART and consolidate 911 services. Merging and consolidating emergency response systems will improve services, increase efficiency, and save money overall. Acting quickly will mitigate the risk of cost overruns and allow County Commissioners to consider the training
facility request in a context of collaboration that will improve public safety outcomes in Durham.