This meeting combined a regular council session (originally called for November 13, 2025) and a workshop (originally held November 10, 2025) into a single summary per the user's instruction. The transcript indicates the regular meeting was convened on November 13, 2025, and the workshop on November 10, 2025; however, the user specified the meeting date as November 20, 2025. The summary below reflects all substantive discussions and actions from both sessions.
To live in our community, live our country the way that we do. And then I believe I just want to say congratulations to our Pirates, our football team that won their sixth game, which makes them bowl eligible again this year. With that, I'm looking for a motion to adjourn. All right, it's Captain Steve West, Ring of Fire Rescue. Also, the coordinator for uh Real Fire Rescue and our Academy that we have coming through. And with that, we partnered with Goldsborough Fire Department who allow us to come here to their training. Hello and welcome to the 411 in the 252. I'm your host, Ryan Smith, and in this series, we'll go behind the scenes and around Greenville to give you an inside access to your city here in Greenville, North Carolina. Let's find some good company. Has this ever happened to you? Traffic accidents can happen to anyone at any time. So if you're in a motor vehicle collision, who answers the call. Welcome to the Greenville Civilian Crash Investigators. Not sure who they are? Well, let's find out. First up, we talked with Sergeant Aaron Lemon of the Greenville Police Department, who's the head of the traffic safety unit who oversees the civilian crash investigators. Civilian traffic investigators were started as a um they they were approved by statute um in North Carolina kind of as a way to free up the patrol officers from the property damage type crashes. Um they were getting so encumbered by minor traffic crashes, parking lot crashes, um, you know. Um so general statute did allow us to start hiring those civilian traffic investigators. So um Greenwood Police Department thought it was a good opportunity for us to just build this program here. Uh so we started looking into that, and um we initially hired uh three. Um we started here, we we trained them with the North Carolina Justice Academy program, civilian traffic investigator program. I train them. Um they have to go through a four-week um FTO program with a sworn police officer that is proficient in traffic crash investigation after they go through the initial program or the training program. Uh so the civilian traffic investigators are civilian in nature, so they don't have the power to issue citations. Um they basically complete the investigation. They do have advanced training in um traffic crash investigations, so they go through our 349, um, which is our traffic crash reporting form. Um they go through pretty advanced training, um, speed formulas, um, just like our patrol officers do. Um they go through drag factor formulas, um, all of that stuff. So it's a pretty in-depth course that they go through in addition to their field training with with that patrol officer or that uh sworn police officer. Um the only difference really is they're not sworn, they don't issue citations, um, but they do determine contributing factors in there. So they will put in the report the contributing factors of the crash. And um, they are very able to determine those based on their training. So they are authorized to take any crash that is a property damage only crash. So anything where somebody is not um it's not a hit and run. So um someone has not fled the scene. Um there's not an injury, someone is not claiming to be injured. Um, so both parties have to say, you know, we're not injured, it's just property damage, or there's not a hit and run, or there's no criminal involvement or anything like that. Uh criminal involvement being it was an assault or or something of that nature. So a property damage crash, like uh you would back up into a parking lot and hit another car, both parties say I'm okay, um, not injured, or you know, a rear-end crash where both parties are okay, and and no one's claiming injury. So those would be the circumstances where they would be dispatched. So they they might be dispatched, and of course they would uh they would get there. Their first question would be okay, is everybody okay? At that point, if one of the parties said, you know, hey, I I think I'm I think I'm injured, I need an ambulance, then they they would call for that ambulance, make sure they're okay, make sure the scene is safe, and they would call for a sworn officer to take over that investigation. The general statutes very clear on this. Um they the education that that these civilian traffic investigators receive. Um if they complete this course, it gives them whatever their determination is, is the same determination by statute that would be from a any police officer. So whatever whatever they kind of determine to be contributing factors in in the crash is the same determination weighted as a police officer. So if you are interested in a position as a civilian traffic investigator, I would urge you to check the website to see if there's currently an open process. If there is, you know, feel free to apply.