New Horry County committee focuses on battling violent crime

Nine homicides in 90 days.

That statistic, taken from a three-month period last year, simultaneously saddens, angers and frustrates Bennie Swans. The Horry County activist has spent the last few weeks urging local leaders to push for new ways to combat the violence in the Grand Strand’s poorest communities, places he says see the worst of the carnage.

“You can’t police your way out of this problem,” Swans said. “It’s going to take a collaborative, coordinated, communicative effort.”

That effort finally gained some traction on Monday when County Council’s Public Safety Committee agreed to assist Swans in addressing his concerns.

Committee Chairman Al Allen created a special panel of law enforcement, county officials, community leaders and citizens to examine the county’s approach to battling violent crime and look at what can be done to make neighborhoods safer.

The panel will be chaired by County Councilman Jimmy Washington, who lives in the crime-plagued Racepath area, and report to the Public Safety Committee by June.

“This is an issue that is extremely serious and I think it needs to be addressed,” Allen said. “It needs to be given some attention.”

While the “nine homicides in 90 days” figure Swans quoted is accurate, records from the Horry County Coroner’s Office show the homicide rate in the county remains fairly consistent throughout the year.

Last year, the county had 26 killings (excluding three vehicular homicides). Authorities investigated one in every month except June.

In 2014, there were 29 homicides (excluding vehicular ones). Over the last five years, the county has averaged 22 per year.

Along with forming the committee, county officials agreed to help Swans hold a series of public hearings that will allow community members to share their concerns and possible solutions. Swans said the county needs to seek new ideas for preventing violence as well as account for all the programs already serving impoverished communities. He contends that local governments have never taken a thorough assessment of all the initiatives in the area.

That, he said, must change.

“The lives of our children are important,” he said. “We cannot turn our back on the situation.”

Swans noted that he’s spoken with county officials for years without much success.

“It’s not as though they don’t care,” he said. “I’m certain that everyone cares about safety. But there’s an elephant sitting in the room. And that is that we haven’t moved to solve it.”

Some council members pointed out that they did approve a tax increase last year and part of that money went to hiring more public safety personnel. A task force was also developed to focus on gang-related crime.

“We are looking at that aspect of the problem,” councilman Johnny Vaught said. “Our gang task force is addressing these problems and that we’re working with the communities trying to fix these things, too.”

Despite those efforts, Horry County Police Chief Saundra Rhodes said her agency needs help from residents and she’s willing to work with Swans’ group.

“We’re weeding them out,” she said of the gangs. “But I do believe it’s going to require the community to come together to plant that seed to replace that violence.”

Councilman Paul Prince blamed the impoverished communities’ struggles on a breakdown of families there. Better parenting, he said, would help.

“That’s where it starts and everybody knows that’s where it starts,” he said. “After a while, they have hundreds of children and [they] just grow up without a momma and daddy and do what they want to. … But how in the world are we going to address that [and find an] answer?”

Swans countered that the situation doesn’t have to remain unchanged.

“In the absence of having a good mama, should my child die?” he asked. “Should your child die? Should they be caught in a crossfire? I don’t think so.”

Allen agreed that all options should be considered by the new panel.

“Let’s see if there’s anything out there that we’re missing,” he said. “There has to be something we can do. You’ve got to put legs on those prayers.”

After the meeting, Swans said he was pleased with the county committee’s response.

When he spoke to the Myrtle Beach City Council last week, the discussion turned heated when Mayor John Rhodes accused another activist, the Rev. Tim McCray, of not reporting a drive-by shooting until three hours after it happened.

Rhodes said the police can’t help poor communities when the people who live there won’t cooperate. McCray called the mayor’s statement a lie, and said he had tried to usher kids away from the area to be safe. He maintains he didn’t wait three hours to report the crime.

On Monday, the tone of the conversation was less adversarial, Swans said. He found county leaders more receptive to his ideas.

“I am absolutely elated,” he said. “As a result of the work of a lot of people, they realize this is a serious problem.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 6:47 PM with the headline "New Horry County committee focuses on battling violent crime."