Mike Causey | They were trying to get bad guys off streets

Tragedy struck our state on April 29 when four law enforcement officers — Department of Adult Correction Officers Alden Elliott and Sam Poloche, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Joshua Eyer and U.S. Deputy Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr. — lost their lives while protecting us and trying to get a bad guy off the street in Charlotte.

Four other Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers — Christopher Tolley, Michael Giglio, Jack Flowers and Justin Campbell — suffered injuries, and thankfully are on the road to recovery.

My heart aches for the families and friends of the officers who died, to their respective law agencies who are coping with the lost of a co-worker and to the entire law enforcement community.

I know, as a former military police officer and as the head of a department that has a team of highly skilled police officers, the dedication that these men and women who carry badges have to making our communities safer places to live and work.

The four officers were killed during an effort by the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force to serve a warrant on a convicted felon in an east Charlotte neighborhood. The task force combines efforts of federal, state and local law efforts to arrest some of the most dangerous criminals.

Police agencies often combine efforts to combat common crimes. Our law enforcement agency, the Department of Insurance’s Criminal Investigations Division, often works with other police agencies across the state in both informal and formal ways.

Recently, our Criminal Investigations Division has joined with another state agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the federal Social Security Administration to form a Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) unit to combat disability fraud.

I signed a memorandum of understanding with representatives of the other agencies to establish the CDI unit on Sept. 11. 2023. The CDI’s primary mission is to uncover illegal acts by investigating statements and activities that raise suspicion of disability fraud by filing claims, medical providers, interpreters and other service providers.

This is a much-needed and specialized unit and partnership. It’s another way we are fighting fraud on all fronts. This unit brings together highly trained and experienced experts from multiple agencies at a time when fighting fraud is essential to protect consumers’ wallets.

This CDI unit, based in Raleigh, currently consists of five officers, two from the Department of Insurance, two from the Social Security Administration and one from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Disability Determination Services Division.

Our Criminal Investigations Division is the nation’s oldest and one of the most respected state insurance department fraud units in the country. The fraud fighting unit was founded in 1945 and is charged with conducted criminal investigations and supporting prosecution of individuals and entities committed insurance related crimes throughout North Carolina.

Our Special Agents are sworn law enforcement officers and have statewide jurisdiction. They are authorized to carry firearms, make arrests, conduct searches and help prosecute cases in court.

While these Special Agents work in close cooperation with the insurance industry, they also work with other local, state and federal law and prosecutors.

They’re working to make criminals pay for their crimes. They’re trying to get the bad guys off the streets.