FRLI

Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr. was elected to office in 2018. His passionate commitment to serving others, coupled with his diverse career experiences in law enforcement, gives him a unique vision for the Office of Sheriff.

Sheriff Kimbrough was born and raised in Forsyth County, graduated from North Forsyth High School, and later earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from High Point University in 1991. Kimbrough then earned his Master’s degree in Leadership from Piedmont International University in 2020. In May 2023, Kimbrough received his Doctor of Laws degree from Carolina University.

Kimbrough began his law enforcement career in 1984 as a Police Officer for the Winston-Salem Police Department. In 1987, he became an Arson Investigator with the Winston-Salem Fire Department while serving in the role of Assistant Fire Marshal. He then moved to work with high-risk offenders at the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole. From 1995 to 2016, Kimbrough served the United States Department of Justice as a Special Agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He specialized in investigating crimes against the government, including organized crime, money laundering, gang violence, and drug trafficking.Various certifications, including Department of Justice Instructor, and his fluency in Spanish, afforded him the opportunity to work extensively throughout the United States of America and other Spanish speaking countries.

Kimbrough has four decades of law enforcement experience and brings his professional experiences and personal passions to projects throughout the community. As an active community leader, he founded Branded for Knowledge, a program focusing on strengthening, empowering, and encouraging individuals to reach their full potential. Kimbrough continues to hone his leadership skills, completing the Dale Carnegie Course, Skills for Leadership. Kimbrough also completed Becoming a Leader: Developing Your Style and Making Sound Decisions and Emotional Intelligence in Leadership courses from Harvard University in 2020.

As the first African-American Sheriff of Forsyth County, Sheriff Kimbrough has worked to improve the relationship between the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and the community, advancing technology, and enhancing the work already being done by the team members at the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. Technological advances have included updates to the Real Time Intelligence Center, known as RTIC, as well as optimized deputy safety with Axon technology.

Kimbrough led the implementation of “Surviving the Shield,” a partnership with Novant Health that supports the mental health of deputies. He also led the agency to partner with Wake Forest University’s School of Professional Studies to create a Law Enforcement School of Executive Leadership for First Responders. Recently, Kimbrough has been tasked with creating the Executive Leadership Program at his alma mater High Point University.

Due to Kimbrough’s diligent work in the community, he has received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award, the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his service to the community, and the Community Impact Award from High Point University. Despite his numerous accolades, including being an Author of three (3) books, Kimbrough considers inspiring and creating positive change in the lives of young adults is his greatest accomplishment. In his spare time, Sheriff Kimbrough enjoys flying, reading, spending time with his seven (7) sons, and inspiring the community to be the best they can be.

Marty A. Sumner serves as the Senior Deputy Commissioner of the Fraud Control Group at the N. C. Department of Insurance (NCDOI).  Sumner was appointed to this position in July 2017, by Commissioner Mike Causey.  Sumner led the 2.4-million-dollar expansion of the Criminal Investigations Division, which doubled the number of sworn Special Agents, added a Bail Bond Regulatory Division, Criminal Legal Services (four prosecuting attorneys) and the Fire & Risk Reduction Division.

Prior to joining the NCDOI Sumner served 30 years as a law enforcement officer with the High Point Police Department.  He retired in 2016, serving the last four years as Chief of Police.

Sumner is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on focused deterrence policing and data driven violence reduction strategies.  As a consultant Sumner is a developer and instructor of Transformational Leadership, a Technical Assistance/Training provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, United States Department of Justice, and for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR).

Chief Sumner graduated from John Wesley University with a BA in Management and Ethics, the Southern Police Institute Administrative Officers Course at the University of Louisville and the Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard.

Marty and his wife Kathy have been married for 40 years; they have two sons and one grandson.

Deputy Chief Eddie M. Buffaloe Jr., joined the Raleigh Police Department (RPD) in January 2026 after retiring from state government. Before his arrival at RPD, he served as Secretary/Homeland Security Advisor, the highest-ranking law enforcement officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Over the past 30 years, he worked in various law enforcement and public safety capacities across the state, including serving as Chief of Police, Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff, a correctional officer, and as a law enforcement instructor and Commissioner for the North Carolina Training and Standards Commission.

His education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration, a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Grand Canyon University, and numerous law enforcement and public safety certifications. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute, US Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and served as the past president of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police.

Throughout the years, he has been appointed to numerous commission and advisory boards and is a member of several professional organizations and currently serves on the Board of Directors for International Association of Chiefs of Police, North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, and North Carolina Police Executives Association.

In addition to serving his community as a public safety professional, Deputy Chief Buffaloe served in the North Carolina Army National Guard for 10 years, and a Life Member of OMEGA PSI PHI Fraternity Incorporated.

As Deputy Chief of Support Administration, he oversees the Chief’s Office, Office of Professional Standards, and Administrative Services Division. He is dedicated to serving the citizens of Raleigh through his extensive experience in public service and is a dual recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Governors Cooper and Stein.

Education:
B.A. from Eastern Kentucky University (1969), M.S. degree in Forensic Science from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (1983)

Specialties:
Fire and Explosion Investigation and Analysis, Forensic Examiner of Explosive Devices, Bombing Crime Scene Investigation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Render Safe Procedures – Bomb Squad, Large Vehicle Improvised Explosive Devices; Suicide Improvised Explosive Devices, Hazardous Materials

Posts Held in the Profession:
Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory, Chief of the FBI Explosives Unit and the Bomb Data Center, Professor at Eastern Kentucky University

Biography:
Tom Thurman has worked in the explosives field for over forty years, first as an Army Bomb Disposal Technician and then as a Special Agent with the FBI. As a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI Laboratory, he forensically examined the exploded remains of hundreds of improvised explosive devices and traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world to collect evidence and conduct bombing scene investigations.

These investigations have included the bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon in 1983 and 1984, the bombing of the Marine Barracks, also in Lebanon in 1983, the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the bombing deaths of a Federal Judge in Alabama and an attorney in Georgia in 1989, the 1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York and the 1996 crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 off Long Island, New York. Prior to his retirement from the FBI in 1998, Mr. Thurman was the Chief of the FBI Bomb Data Center, whose responsibilities included the training of all public safety bomb disposal technicians in the United States. He has and continues to lecture and provide training into the methods of bomb scene investigation, terrorism crime scene investigation, and explosives avoidance to domestic and international training schools and audiences.

Mr. Thurman is member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI) and serves as a charter committee member of the Certified International Post Blast Investigator Program. He is a Certified International Post Blast Investigator and Advisor Emeritus to the IABTI. As a member of various national planning panels, he participated in the preparation of two best practice guides published by the U.S. Department of Justice; Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement and A Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation. Additionally, was the sub-committee chair of the Training and Education sub-committee for the Technical Working Group for Fire and Explosions (TWGFEX) under the National Center for Forensic Science, University of Central Florida.

Mr. Thurman is the author of Practical Bomb Scene Investigation, Third Edition published by CRC Press in 2017. This book has been internationally recognized and adopted as the best practices guide in the investigation of bombing scenes by forensic laboratories, post blast investigators and university academic curriculum’s. Following his retirement from Eastern Kentucky University as a Professor teaching Fire, Arson and Explosion Investigation, he has provided consulting services to a number of clients relative to explosion scene investigation and procedures for the security and accountability of explosives.