The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and Patrol Division have an interlocking working relationship with respect to crimes committed and reported. The Criminal Investigations Division consists of 6 full-time detectives which is supervised by Major Jason Wank, Chief Detective.

With few exceptions, it is usually deputies assigned to the Patrol Division who initiate written reports of alleged crimes reported by alleged victims. These reports are reviewed by the Criminal Investigations Division where the process of  determining if the reported crime actually occurred. Once the validity of a crime report is established, an investigation begins to identify the offender, recover any property stolen and develop a case that will result in the desired outcome; an arrest and conviction.

The detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division are highly trained and deploy a number of effective techniques to gather and analyze evidence. They are responsible for the investigation of crimes such as homicides, armed robbery, sexual battery, crimes against children, kidnapping, domestic violence, serious assault cases, missing persons, unattended deaths, economic crimes, exploitation of the elderly and computer-related crimes. Additionally, investigators in this unit are responsible for tracking juvenile offenders, runaways, and the registered sexual offenders living in Carteret County.

If you have information regarding an ongoing criminal investigation, please contact the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at (252) 728-8400.