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Anson County's first African-American sheriff speaks about goals for county

By Eric Philips
By Eric Philips

Landric Reid takes great pride in being elected sheriff of Anson County and that he is the first African-American to hold that post.

"It's good to be the first at anything, and being the first African-American sheriff is a good thing," Reid said. "But I always tell people at the end of my tour of duty as sheriff I want to be known as the best sheriff."

He said spending more than 20 years as an Anson County state trooper prepared him for his new role as sheriff.

He said community policing will be a cornerstone of his administration, something he preaches to his 32 deputies. He hopes soon there will be more.

"We want to get into this community and get them to trust us, because that's what it's all about," Reid said. "When you have trust, you can solve a lot of crimes."

Reid said crime fighting is what it's all about. He took us to one area in Morven that has been the source of drug activity and break-ins in the rural county.

"We're looking at cleaning it up real soon," Reid said.

Reid said while he cannot ignore the recent cases of police-involved shootings such as the shooting death of Michael Brown, he can't dwell on them or the anger they've caused.

"My thing is to go out and try to help the community, save lives and keep a lot of things that are going on in this country from going on," Reid said.

Reid said he has a message for criminals.

"We're coming after you, and we will give you a free ride uptown," Reid said.

Reid said as the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend arrives, he reflects on those people who came before him who made this moment possible.

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