Q&A: Former chief deputy shares vision for Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office
In an increasingly crowded field, former Mecklenburg County Chief Deputy Rodney Collins is leaning into his experience.
The Democrat, who announced his candidacy for sheriff last month, spent 30 years climbing the ranks — working in one jail facility, getting transferred to another, then field operations, then jail administration and so on. He ended in 2024 as the second in command at the sheriff’s office with the title of chief deputy.
The Democratic primary election is in March.
Collins spoke to The Charlotte Observer in August, before more criticism from former staffers piled up against Sheriff Garry McFadden. But even then, Collins said he did not want to talk about McFadden. He wanted to focus on his own experience and ideas, he said.
This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
The Charlotte Observer: After all those years and then retiring, what’s made you decide to run for sheriff?
Collins: Because of federal legislation called the Hatch Act, those of us that are internal to the organization, while we’re there, cannot run. This is the actual first election cycle since my retirement that I’m eligible to run.
My “why” is simple. I still have a capacity and a desire to serve this community. My entire adult life has been spent in service of something, whether it was my country in the United States Air Force as a military policeman or here locally.
So, I still have a lot to offer. And I think with my background, with my institutional knowledge of the actual sheriff’s office, I bring a lot of experience to the role of sheriff.
Observer: If you win this election and you’re our sheriff, what do you want to do?
Collins: The first thing is reestablishing a healthy workplace culture.
Everything that we do, the services that we provide, is predicated on our ability to staff. When we carry a lot of vacancies, we’re not able to provide that level of service to the citizenry that we should, because we’re strapped for personnel.
Observer: You mentioned workplace culture. You are the only candidate who has worked for Sheriff McFadden. Starting around late last year — and, really, before that — there’s been these conversations about the sheriff and his management. People accuse him of being a toxic boss. I wanted to get your assessment.
Collins: A lot of information about the current sheriff has been well documented. My campaign is not going to focus on him. It’s going to focus on my qualifications and what I bring to the role.
One of the things that I believe is that top-down accountability is critically important — modeling the appropriate example for your staff, ensuring that we have a consistent message, being intentional and deliberate about our service to this community.
Observer: In the last couple of years, jail deaths have drawn attention because of supervision failures. How should the jail be supervised, and what does it look like overseeing that?
Collins: It circles back to what I alluded to earlier: having adequate staff.
Ensuring that you can fill those vacancies, so that you can provide that level of service is critically important. Any time tours are missing, that’s the fundamental responsibility of a detention officer — to (ensure) the safety and well-being of those that are in our care.
Observer: Jail North got shut down.
Collins: It did.
Observer: There was some discussion of reopening it. Is that something you’d support?
Collins: It’s something that I would support only if all those logistics could be worked out.
One of my assignments over the years was, I was assigned to the Gatling Juvenile Detention Center. It was a site up in Huntersville.
One thing I want to make clear is that juvenile detention is the responsibility of the state of North Carolina. It’s not a local sheriff’s responsibility. When we decided to close Gatling, it was really cost-prohibitive when you had only a handful of kids that were there. You had personnel, you had nursing, you had psychiatrists, you had programmatic staff that were in place as well.
It really was a drain on resources and a tax burden at some point.
We partnered with the state again to open (Jail North). When we opened Jail North, it had a profound impact on the staffing at Detention Center Central… It was very, very expensive, and it wasn’t in the best interest of Mecklenburg County to continue. So, to answer your question in a short, concise way: I would only consider it if all those things worked out.
Observer: The sheriff’s office’s relationship with ICE... What should that relationship look like?
Collins: So, now, with House Bill 318 coming into law Oct. 1, it forces sheriffs throughout the state of North Carolina. You don’t have an option now but to cooperate; it’s now the law.
In terms of having a relationship, I think that you’re much better served — and so is your community — when there’s collaboration. When I say collaboration, that doesn’t mean that we do ICE’s work, that doesn’t mean that we side with ICE, but we do what’s in the best interest of citizenry.
Observer: What does that collaboration look like, then?
Collins: Well, with the passage of 318, you have to notify within two hours. So, making sure that we’re consistent in doing what we’re required to do at the sheriff’s office. Having good contacts, having good relationships with people who work on that side so that we serve the interest of public safety.
Observer: Do you think it’d be easy to make that a good relationship?
Collins: I think so. I think with different leadership, yes, people are mature and professional. You build your relationships based on your own interactions with somebody, not how it was done previously.
Observer: We’ve talked a bit about the courthouse, the jail, public safety generally. Every sheriff is going to have some sort of program or initiative or some kind of “stamp” that they want to leave on the agency they head. I’m just wondering if you have any ideas, anything you’re excited to do.
Collins: No blazing new initiatives at this point. There’s so many other issues that need to be fixed before we can get into (new) things — you know, circling back to those constitutional mandates and ensuring that we do the things that we’re required to do exceptionally well, will be my priority.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.