Sheriff Jackie Rogers was sworn in Monday, December 5th in Kinston.

Sheriff Jackie Rogers said he is excited and ready to get to work tackling the problems facing Lenoir County. He said his first order of business is decreasing the gun violence in Kinston.

There was not an empty seat inside of the Lenoir County Courtroom as Jackie Rogers took the oath as the new Sheriff in Lenoir County.

Rogers said his first goal is to combat the crime uptick in Kinston.

We're going to try to work on the violence in Lenoir County and have a juvenile program and try to work on the juvenile crimes, and gun violence and drug problems we got in this county." Sheriff Jackie Rogers said, "I've already talked to the Chief of Police. We're going to get a team together; we are going to fight it together.

Rogers’ 30 years in law enforcement include working at the Kinston Police Department and as a Highway Patrol Trooper.

Mayor Don Hardy said he, along with Rogers and the Police Chief, have already started to brainstorm on a taskforce to combat the juvenile crimes in the area.

According to Mayor Don Hardy, "We're looking to come together at the table and have some discussions around what we can do and what we can to help cut it off to the core to help some of our juveniles that are having a bad time.”

Rogers said he hopes to get to work so that more businesses will want to move into the area.

They want a law enforcement agency that's going to work.” Sheriff Jackie Rogers explained, “They want to see some of the problems we've had with drug problems, gun violence they want that solved. When you lower the crime rate, you see businesses that want to come to county, and it all works together.

Rogers has two sons who are also in law enforcement. They were present during their fathers swearing in today. Rogers said he will also focus on mental health issues as well.