The Civil Division of the Sheriff's Office is responsible for many tasks. Their primary purpose is to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the Court system at the Nash County Courthouse. They keep order in the court room, shuttle inmates between the jail and court room, and ensure that the Judges are kept safe. They also provide security for visitors and employees at the main entrance to the Courthouse, and monitor all the security cameras within the Courthouse. The Division also assists with Mental Transports, Civil and Criminal paper service, and responding to calls for service when needed.
The Civil Division is also responsible for serving and tracking Writs of Execution, Foreclosures, Tax Warrants, and Evictions. A Writ of execution is a court order granted in an attempt to satisfy a monetary judgment obtained by a plaintiff. When issuing a writ of execution, a court typically will order the Sheriff to take possession of property owned by a judgment debtor. Such property will often then be sold in a Sheriff's Sale and the proceeds remunerated to the plaintiff in partial or full satisfaction of the judgment. It is generally considered preferable for the sheriff simply to take possession of money from the defendant's bank account. If the judgment debtor owns real property, the judgment creditor can record the execution to "freeze" the title until the execution is satisfied. A Writ of Foreclosure is a court order granted after a debtor fails to pay the mortgage on a residence or building, and the bank wants to take possession of the property. A Writ of Eviction is a court order granted after a renter fails to pay the rent for a certain time period and the court has ordered that the debtor be evicted from the residence.
The Civil Division is staffed by (1) one Division Commander, Lieutenant David Wooten. It is also staffed with one Sergeant, Sgt. Keith Corbett. It also has two Corporals, Cpl. Casey Pate and Cpl. Brian Ricks. Under their leadership are (9) nine other Deputies.
One of those Deputies, Deputy Elizabeth Cahoon is responsible for maintaining and verifying all of the Registered Sex Offenders in Nash County. Currently there are 128 Registered Sex Offenders in Nash County. Deputy Cahoon is responsible for making contact with each of these Offenders at least once every (3) three months, and verifying that they are living where they say there are living, and ensuring that they are complying with the requirements of being a registered sex offender.
The Civil Division is just one more Division within the Sheriff's Office, along with Patrol, Investigative, Narcotics, and Staff Services, that work together as a team to provide the best service to the citizens of Nash County.