In this Issue of Hey Cherokee County…

✅ Sheriff Creates New Division, Triples Tactical Force

✅ Cherokee County Posts State's Highest Visitor Spending Growth in 2025

Cherokee County Events

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September 26th

October 31st

November 21st

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office looks different than it did in February, and Sheriff Chris Wood says the changes are just getting started. 

Over the past six months, Wood has been expanding the department's tactical capabilities by sending deputies through SWAT training. Four deputies are currently completing their certification in Macon County, and upon their return, the department will have ten SWAT-trained personnel — up from three when Wood took office in February. At the same time, Wood has been plotting an expansion of the department's Narcotics Division, which he announced last week with the creation of a Special Operations Division.

“I am excited to start to attack crime with a fresh concept, at least as it relates to how this office has traditionally operated,” Wood told Hey Cherokee County. “I may be the sheriff, but first I am a citizen of Cherokee County. I want our families, our children, and our communities in general to feel safe and have a home that they can be proud of.”

Cherokee County has historically relied on the Cherokee Indian Police Department’s (CIPD) SWAT Team when situations escalated beyond what the sheriff's office could handle alone. Wood said expansion of the sheriff’s office's tactical capabilities allows deputies to work with CIPD’s SWAT Team instead of solely relying on them. In situations where shared manpower is needed, Wood said, the two agencies will embed with one another as a cohesive unit. The agency with primary jurisdiction will retain command and control of the situation with joint control over tactical operations consistent with the primary agency’s policy and procedure. 

While the two agencies plan to continue training together, Wood said, expansion of tactical capabilities within the sheriff’s office also allows for more consistent training and puts sheriff’s deputies in a position to show up as a capable partner instead of a dependent one.

“With ten, we can begin to train as two five-member teams,” he said. “Regular training, as a team, will result in a high degree of familiarization and a higher degree of competence.”

The creation of the Special Operations Division came from a reorganization of the department's existing Narcotics Division, Wood said, expanding its personnel, resources and mission. Wood said two new sworn deputy positions were created without any additional county funding by converting a lieutenant position in the detention center and an administrative position on the sheriff's office side into sworn deputy positions. The duties previously handled by those positions were redistributed among existing staff and volunteers from the Sheriff's Auxiliary. 

“My staff and I felt that the county tax dollars would be better spent on positions that would directly, positively affect our communities,” Wood said. 

So what does this new division actually do?

In plain terms: it's a dedicated team whose job is to go looking for trouble rather than waiting for someone to call 911.

Patrol deputies — all 18 of them, supervised by two lieutenants and a captain — handle the day-to-day, Wood said. Calls for service. Emergencies. The steady rhythm of a working sheriff's office. The Special Operations Division works alongside them, focused on the kinds of problems that need sustained attention over days or weeks: drug trafficking networks, repeat offenders with outstanding warrants, stolen property moving through the county.

The investigative work will look familiar to anyone who watches crime dramas — surveillance, controlled buys, search warrants. But the division is also expanding into what Wood calls interdiction: actively looking for criminal activity in motion, whether that's drugs, stolen goods, or wanted individuals passing through.

“This reorganization will increase patrol activities,” Wood said. “Enforcement and investigation are all about intelligence and information.”

Cherokee County recorded the largest percentage increase in visitor spending among all 100 North Carolina counties in 2025, according to new economic impact data released by Visit North Carolina and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Officials say visitor spending in the county reached $116.67 million last year, a 13.9% increase over 2024. Tourism in Cherokee County directly supported 631 local jobs, generated $23.45 million in personal income, and produced approximately $3.61 million in state tax revenue and $4.76 million in local tax revenue.

When visitors spend money on lodging, food, shopping, gas, and attractions, they generate occupancy and sales-tax revenue that helps fund local government services — reducing pressure on residents and property owners to carry the full tax burden. The impact study estimates that visitor spending last year translated to $276.30 in tax savings per Cherokee County resident. 

Spending was distributed across multiple sectors of the local economy: food and beverage led at $36.51 million, followed by lodging at $31.83 million, transportation at $24.50 million, recreation at $13.80 million, and retail at $10.03 million.

Casey Kerr, Executive Director of Tourism for Cherokee County, credited the growth to broad community collaboration, citing the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Murphy, the Town of Murphy, the Town of Andrews, local boards, elected leaders, and area businesses.

Statewide, North Carolina visitor spending reached a record $37.2 billion in 2025, a 1.3% increase from the prior year. Tourism supported nearly 231,000 jobs across the state and generated more than $2.7 billion in state and local tax revenue, according to officials. 

The annual economic impact study is commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and conducted by Tourism Economics. The study measures domestic and international traveler expenditures and the employment, payroll income, and tax revenues directly generated by visitor spending.

Click the image below to view the official announcement.

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