Editing Murphy, North Carolina (section)

===Law enforcement===
[[File:Murphy, North Carolina, Police Department at 498 Hill St. 01.jpg|thumb|The Murphy Police Department at 498 Hill St.]]
Murphy and the surrounding unincorporated communities are protected by the Murphy Police Department. In February 2024, the department moved to a new headquarters at 498 Hill St. outside downtown. The new location cost $565,100, plus $70,000 in renovations. The new station, which was built as a bank in 1988, is three times larger than the former headquarters. The department had for decades been located in the basement of the old Carnegie Library at 93 Peachtree Street next to the courthouse.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Foster |first=Randy |date=February 27, 2024 |title=Murphy police move into new headquarters |url=https://www.cherokeescout.com/local-newsletter/murphy-police-move-new-headquarters |access-date=March 4, 2024 |work=Cherokee Scout |publisher=Community Newspapers, Inc. |location=Murphy, NC |pages=1, 9}}</ref> The current chief of police is Tim Lominac.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://murphypolice.com/ |title=murphypolice.com |publisher=murphypolice.com |access-date=July 8, 2012}}</ref>

Cherokee County as a whole is served by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. Dustin D. Smith is the current Sheriff, he has served in that capacity since 2022. The current Cherokee County Jail was built in 2008 and can house around 150 inmates. It replaced the older 1922 jail that has since been demolished.

====Crime rate====
According to the Cherokee County, NC government, the crimes in the area consist primarily of domestic abuse (accounting for greater than 60% of incidents.) Emergency calls have increased in line with population increases.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cherokeecounty-nc.gov/343/Statistics|title=Statistics {{!}} Cherokee County, NC|website=www.cherokeecounty-nc.gov|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref> Violent crimes decreased year over year in 2018 by 15.3%, compared to an overall reduction of 7.3% for the entire state of North Carolina.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ncsbi.gov/Services/SBI-Statistics/SBI-Uniform-Crime-Reports/2018-Annual-Summary.aspx|title=Crime In North Carolina - 2018 Annual Summary Report of 2018 Uniform Crime Reporting Data|date=January 2020|website=NC.gov}}</ref>