Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

Chipp Bailey became Sheriff for Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, North Carolina on February 5, 2008.

Sheriff Bailey's law enforcement career began with the Mecklenburg County Police in 1972. In the early 1990s, the Mecklenburg County Police and Charlotte Police Departments merged. He supervised the new agency's Planning and Research Unit until joining Sheriff Jim Pendergraph in 1994 as Chief Deputy Sheriff.

Sheriff Bailey is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the largest sheriff's office in North and South Carolina. His responsibilities include: overseeing a jail system housing an average daily population of over 2400 inmates, providing security for over one million visitors to the County's courthouse each year, ensuring timely service of over 100,000 civil and criminal papers each year, receiving and booking over 40,000 arrestees a year, registering and monitoring 750 sex offenders, and issuing gun purchase and concealed weapon permits.

His educational background consists of a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Pfeiffer University and a Masters of Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina.

A native Charlottean, Chipp and his wife, Sharon, have two sons. Whenever Sheriff Bailey has time in his busy schedule, he enjoys writing mysteries. He published his third mystery, A Lowcountry Murder, in August of 2007 with Silver Dagger Mysteries. Sheriff Bailey is an active member of Matthews United Methodist Church.
Affiliations:

• Member, North Carolina Sheriffs' Association
• Member, National Sheriffs' Association
• Member, American Jail Association
• Member, International Association of Chiefs of Police
• Member, North Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force Executive Board
• Board of Directors for NC State's Administrative Officers Management Program
• Governor's Appointee to North Carolina State Emergency Response Commission
• Member, Central Piedmont Community College's President's Council
• Member, Board of Advisors United Negro College Fund  
• Member, Queen City Optimists

In my thirty plus years of law enforcement service to the citizens of Mecklenburg County, I have learned the most important aspect to getting out of the jail building business is teaching inmates they can gain freedom through responsibility. Education, job training and programs focusing on reducing addiction are critical components for stopping the cycle of recidivism. If repeat offenders stop offending, then the need for more jails will decrease.

Early in 2010, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office will begin vocational training for inmates in partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The first emphasis will be on developing necessary construction skills, such as carpentry.

As summer approaches we will offer job training in horticulture and landscaping, and in late summer we will begin training in masonry. Our key is to enable those being released from jail to enter the workplace with hope for the future because they are drug and alcohol free and employable. They gain their freedom by becoming responsible citizens. They will become tax payers instead of tax burdens.

As Sheriff, I will continue the excellent relationship the Sheriff's Office enjoys with the area police chiefs and other law enforcement agencies. Together, we continue to develop strategies important to ensuring public safety. I believe aggressive enforcement in our communities, expedient adjudication in our courthouse and effective rehabilitative services in our jails is the best way to stop repeat offenders from victimizing our community. I pledge to continue being a leader who is committed to public safety and the highest standard of integrity for the citizens of Mecklenburg County.