Horry County discusses merging sheriff’s office and police department amid scandals
Horry County is considering merging its sheriff’s office with the police department, which has been mired in corruption and controversies in recent years.
The potential change is in the discussion phase, but the topic appeared as public input matter at Tuesday’s Horry County Council meeting.
“This a topic that’s been something that’s been kicked about a little bit, and we’re getting into it,” said Council Chairman Johnny Gardner. “So, I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know if anybody knows what the answer is, but it’s something that we will look at, like we do all things.”
Members of the public took to the podium to criticize the police department’s culture and conduct.
The late Scott Spivey’s sister, North Carolina resident Jennifer Foley, talked about the difference between the Horry County Police Department’s handling of her brother’s shooting death – which garnered national attention for alleged police misconduct – and the Horry County Sheriff’s Office’s conduct in the February Stand Your Ground Trial.
Citing the promotions of two Horry County police officers involved in her brothers case, she accused the police department of engaging in cover-ups, lacking transparency and failing to serve the community.
“Horry County’s dual law enforcement agencies have given me starkly different experiences. My family has unfortunately met lots of other families that have been denied justice for their loved ones and have had similarly horrific experiences with the Horry County Police Department,” Foley said. “The Horry County Police Department has presented itself to my family as department with a culture that lacks boundaries or accountability.”
Other speakers joined in calls to merge the police department into the sheriff’s office, referencing a “good old boys” culture throughout the department and controversies in recent years.
“I want to know, what is your plan to fix the Horry County Police Department? What’s the plan? It has been almost three years since that shooting ... we have seen no indication of any meaningful moves to change the culture. I find it interesting that many of the individuals responsible for overseeing that case were later promoted,” said former Horry County Police Department Sgt. Kevin Suggs. “How do you explain this? Did you even know that this had occurred?”
Last year, Horry County voted to remove former safety deputy administrator Randy Webster’s name from its $24 million emergency operations center amid a lawsuit accusing the long-time leader of sexual harassment. A handful of police officers and the former county spokesperson resigned in what the lawsuit alleges were retaliatory measures threatening termination.
Just this month, a Horry County police officer who allegedly sought hundreds of dollars in exchange for dropping traffic tickets was charged with multiple counts of bribery by a public official and misconduct.
“There is currently a bad system in place for the county law enforcement that’s evidenced by the same problems being repeated over and over again without address,” said resident John Reuben Long, who advocated for a referendum to allow residents to vote on the union. “We need to evaluate how to change the system, more than the individuals within the system.”
Although Horry County Council didn’t discuss the matter, Councilman Dennis DiSabato raised concerns of potential corruption under a future sheriff.
“What happens if [Sheriff Phillip] Thompson is one day replaced by an individual who is more akin to the 17 sheriffs in the state that have been arrested over the last five years for abuse of power?” DiSabato said. “We have, probably, the ability to move quicker, to affect change in the form that we have right now, as opposed to having to wait for the sheriff to be reelected in four years.”
No immediate plans to fold the police department into the sheriff’s office are on the table, but Gardner spoke about the need to study potential changes, costs and timelines.