GREENSBORO, N.C. — Exactly one month ago, Greensboro Police Sergeant Dale Nix was shot and killed while trying to stop a crime at a Sheetz gas station.
His death hit the community hard. It is sparking up conversations about the climate around officers and the solution to curbing violent crime.
For those who knew Sergeant Dale Nix, his passion was within the Family Justice Center.
Sgt. Dale Nix helped families get out of domestic violence situations and found ways for kids to overcome the trauma.
"He was one of those officers that when you were with him, you felt like nothing bad could happen and he seemed almost invincible to me," said Casey Gwinn, the Alliance for Hope International President. "Dale was the officer you'd want to help you to help your sister to help your mom to help anybody in crisis."
Casey Gwinn is the Alliance for Hope International President.
The group starts family justice centers across the country and provides training.
Sgt. Nix was a part of the team, regularly training on how to work with high-risk teens and dangerous offenders.
"Trauma is not a destiny," said Gwinn. "We need to focus on changing the lives of kids before they commit serious crimes and that's what Dale's passion was. He was so passionate about helping survivors of domestic violence, get out of that abuse and causing them to realize they deserved better than that."
The alliance keeps track of officers killed in the line of duty and digs deeper into who killed them.
Gwinn said in 2023, 47 officers were killed in intentional homicides.
It's the highest number he said he has seen in five years.
"We're seeing very troubling trends," he said. "We're also seeing a much higher rate of officers dying where there is a history of domestic violence with the killer of that officer."
Gwinn said Sgt. Dale Nix was the last one to die in 2023.
"48 hours before Dale died, two other officers also died in the United States," he said. "They were both ambushed. They were literally lured to a situation and then shot, having no idea that they were walking into a situation where someone intended to kill them."
Gwinn said of the people who have killed these officers, most have childhood trauma, a history of violence, and are male.
He said the solution starts with the young, by helping children through their trauma, just like Sgt. Nix did though Camp Hope before he died.
"I believe the answers and the inspiration actually come from Dale's life and even his death," said Gwinn. "One of his jobs at the Family Justice Center was to make sure that kids got to camp every summer at Camp Hope North Carolina. Camp Hope North Carolina is the future. It's the answer. Intervening in their lives before they commit crimes and that starts with kids."
Gwinn hopes that people take the initiative to help the younger generation find a pathway to overcoming their trauma and find mentorship through the camp.
"I want people 10 years from now to say the name Dale Nix and say, 'I got involved in helping kids because of Dale Nix,' or, 'I got involved in the Family Justice Center, supporting it, because the Dale Nix,' that's what I hope and pray for," said Gwinn.
Camp Hope is an overnight summer camp that helps youth living with domestic violence and trauma the chance to find a pathway to mentorship and a way to change their paths moving forward.