Charles Vaught has spent 19 years of his life dedicated to law enforcement. He is stepping down from the Roanoke Rapids Police Department as one of its detectives to dedicate his life to making a business successful.

“I've got a lot invested in that store,” he said of Northeastern Safety Supply on Roanoke Avenue, just down from the police station. “I finally came to the realization you can't work full time and run a business.”

It was the dream of Vaught and his original investors, who he has since bought out, to make the store a convenient place for law enforcement and other emergency personnel, rather than having them make the drive to Raleigh or Richmond to pick up needed supplies, whether ammo or clothing.

In the beginning the store did well, although he admits the fire side didn't take off as planned. When he reopens the store after New Year's Day he is looking at some changes to draw not just law enforcement and other emergency responders in, but to draw the public in, with plans to obtain a federal firearms license and to add targets, ammo and weapons as well as experiment with offering janitorial and industrial and commercial safety supplies.

Vaught, middle, prays with other officers before a raid.

The decision to leave enforcement was one he and his family deliberated over. “It was very difficult. The biggest is the guaranteed income with the police department.”

Making the decision harder was walking away from something he has loved doing since he started with the Oakland Police Department in California nearly 19 years ago. In the back of his mind, however, were admonitions of doing the best you can and the thoughts of setting an example for his children. “How can I tell my kids that? If I didn't I would set a bad example for my kids. If I didn't do this I would wonder what if for the rest of my life. If it doesn't work out I can go back into law enforcement..”

Now, however, Vaught says, “I guess I'm at the point where there is so much invested. When I weigh what I'm doing now, I have to look at the blood, sweat and tears I've put in and give it a try.”
The first year of business saw some $100,000 in sales but with partners working other jobs the sales went down and the store was open sporadically, although Vaught was always willing to meet customers after hours.

Vaught, left, and Detective Jeff Baggett on Patsy Albritton Street.

Leaving law enforcement, however, is not going to diminish the memories of a career that began on the streets of Oakland and nearly landed him in Los Angeles County with the sheriff's office there before he and his wife began thinking of looking for less crime ridden places to raise a family.

There is a difference between the criminal element in Oakland and the criminal element here, he said. “Out there, they're a little more ruthless, a little more defiant.”

Connections he made in the Army while working with a National Guard unit from Fremont while in Desert Storm gave him a friend from Roanoke Rapids.

He enjoyed Oakland. “It's a department with 900 to a 1,000 officers. It was more high speed, a lot faster paced.”

Vaught and Baggett on a bank robbery investigation.

The radio calls — some 1,400 to 1,600 a night — were so rapid that Vaught would stay awake for two or three hours after shift just to get the noise out of his head. When he came here, he said, “I would have to pick the radio up to check to make sure it was working.”

In field training in Oakland he encountered one of his most tenuous moments when officers stopped a bicyclist for operating without a headlight. The bicyclist got off, shoved a large plastic bag of crack in his mouth and fled on foot. Vaught grabbed him once, but the suspect got away and around the corner the man fired a gun.

When it was time to decide between L.A. County or elsewhere, the Vaughts decided to try Halifax County and Vaught was hired as a reserve officer for the Enfield Police Department. The late Tonya Gillikin, who was shot and killed in the line of duty, got the full time position. He would leave Enfield and come back as assistant chief and was the officer who got the call when Gillkin was shot.

Photographing evidence.

He served two tours with the Halifax County Sheriff's Office and went to Iraq for a year. He has been with the Roanoke Rapids Police Department for four years, his first year as a patrol officer. Of his 19 years in law enforcement, 10 have been spent as an investigator.

“As an investigator you see so much,” the detective said, the most poignant was watching the abortion of teenage rape victim so the fDNA of the fetus could be used as evidence in the case. Another was watching Nicholas Pierre Clark kill himself while holed up in a house on Patsy Albritton Street last year. “You don't get rid of it. I don't let it affect me. In the rape case we took the suspect off the street and sent him to prison for the rest of his life. You take comfort that your work took him off the street and you gave a 14-year-old girl some closure.”

Vaught knows what people are thinking about his decision. “Some probably think I'm crazy. Sometimes I think I'm crazy. Chief (Jeff) Hinton and (Captain) Andy (Jackson) support me 100 percent although they don't want to see me go.”

Putting up crime scene tape following Clark's suicide.

Vaught's wife, Wendy, as well as the rest of his family, support the decision. “My wife is the driving force behind me.”

Supporting Northeastern makes sense, Vaught said. Going to Raleigh for supplies means sending someone on the clock out of town for at least three hours plus the gas and wear and tear on the vehicle, while his business is local. “It's a local business and I'm a local person.”

Vaught, with nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience, will also be able to make suggestions to customers on what best will suit their needs.

Most important, someone will be at the store all week. “We were lucky to be open two days. That was part of the problem, it was hit or miss.”

Jackson said the department will miss Vaught. “It's a big loss to lose Charles. We support him in his endeavor. We know he has put his heart and soul in this and we wish him the best and hope he is very, very successful.”