Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office

Jurisdiction and responsibilities

Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office provides county law enforcement from Elizabeth City. The agency's official description identifies patrol service and support relationships with neighboring counties, Elizabeth City Police Department and the university police community. Central Communications serves Pasquotank, Camden and Elizabeth City through a shared dispatch system. Its non-emergency service number is 252-331-1500; the sheriff's office number is for direct agency business.

How the agency is organized

The published command structure assigns responsibility for patrol, criminal investigations, civil process, school resource officers, special operations, evidence, records and internal investigations. The civil division gives specific instructions for delivering service packets and distinguishes sheriff service charges from fees collected by the clerk. The county's regional detention arrangement is separate: Albemarle District Jail is managed by an administrator reporting to its district jail commission, rather than being described here as a division of the sheriff.

Agency history and local context

The county maintains a named succession of sheriffs covering 1894 through 2026. It records long periods of service as well as temporary succession after deaths or resignations. That chronology includes Wallace Leslie Thompson's service beginning in 1939, Davis M. Sawyer's beginning in 1970, and Randall Wayne Cartwright's beginning in 1994. It is a history of officeholders, not evidence that the institution was established in 1894.

Official records and officer resources

The sheriff's website provides an employment application, an off-duty deputy request, a complaint form, a Citizens' Advisory Council comment form, concealed-handgun information and links to victim notification and Project Lifesaver. These official routes are useful for applicants, officers seeking administrative information and community members. The civil division lists the delivery address and procedural instructions for papers; confirm current requirements there before submitting a packet. Dispatch audio has its own request route on the Central Communications page.

FBI data · 2025

The following figures are from the FBI’s 2025 published agency tables. They describe a reporting period, not current staffing or an assessment of agency performance.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 10; published agency label: Pasquotank. CIUS_Table_10_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_State_by_Metropolitan_and_Nonmetropolitan_Counties_2025.xlsx

This is a county-level agency row, not the total for every police department or every offense in the county.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 80; published agency label: Pasquotank. Table_80_Full_time_Law_Enforcement_Employees_by_State_by_Metropolitan_and_Nonmetropolitan_Counties_2025.xlsx

Blank or unavailable values remain “Not published.” Participating agencies and reporting scope vary. Campus figures concern the reporting institution; a city name does not expand them to all local residents. Read the data definitions and limitations.

NC SBI data · 2024

The NC SBI record is published under Pasquotank Co. Sheriff. Its 2024 reporting-status table lists: Reporting. These earlier figures are presented separately from the FBI’s 2025 tables.

Published Index-crime total: 233.

Sources: SBI agency reporting status · SBI law-enforcement personnel · SBI Index offenses by agency in county.

Personnel are a dated full-time payroll snapshot. Civilian classifications can include jail employees without outside police powers. These are not authorized-position or vacancy counts. Index-crime totals cover selected categories and are not totals of all crime.

Sources and review date

Official agency, government and institutional sources are linked below. Contact details and organizational information were reviewed September 24, 2026. Published statistical years are identified separately.

• Sheriff office and published command structure
• Civil Process Division
• Sheriffs of Pasquotank County
• Central Communications
• Albemarle District Jail governance