Trio of GTCC police officers provide vital support in post-hurricane mountains of North Carolina
Published on: November 26, 2024
When the call went out from western North Carolina for help after Hurricane Helene had altered the area’s landscape and uprooted and displaced residents, Guilford Technical Community College’s police force responded to the need.
“I believe our job as police officers is to serve the community, not just the community in which we live or work,” said GTCC Police Chief Gene Sapino. “Hurricane Helene created a need to serve the greater community, and we were willing and able to provide much-needed assistance.”
The GTCC police force dispatched three officers, George Smith, Alex Stout, and William Wallace, to Black Mountain, N.C., after Sapino and other police chiefs across the state received a mutual aid request from the N.C. Police Chiefs Association not long after Helene devastated the area.
“We had talked about it (volunteering in the hurricane zone} when the Chief got an email from the North Carolina Police Chiefs Association saying they needed help,” recalled Smith. “That letter set it all in motion.”
Black Mountain is in Buncombe County, one of the hardest hit areas in the state with entire neighborhoods destroyed, water systems shut down, and food sources wiped away.
“It was still very rough when we got there,” said Stout, who along with Wallace and Smith arrived in the Black Mountain area three weeks after the storm. “You could look one moment, and it didn’t look like anything had happened, and then, around the next turn, nothing was there.”
The trio of GTCC officers provided much-needed support for the Black Mountain police force and law enforcement officers from other areas who were already in place.
“We were trying to backfill for them so they could get some time off,” Stout said. “One squad was just getting its first weekend off since it had all started.”
The GTCC officers worked with fellow law enforcement officers from across the country, including Texas, Louisiana, and Washington.
“It was amazing,” Stout said, referring to how officers from across America worked together. “The big thing was everyone was taking care of everyone else.”
“It felt good to be able to protect and serve those who were in need,” said Wallace, the youngest member of the GTCC police force at 23 years old.
Whereas, Stout and Smith have been involved in law enforcement much of their lives and have experienced working major events.
The trio worked six 12-hour nights to help the Black Mountain Police Department. Most of their time was spent providing security for large distribution centers for donated goods.
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