Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008

Exclusive: Highway Patrol getting ‘a loud message’

Public Safety director says inappropriate behavior no longer will be tolerated

The head of the state’s largest law enforcement agency says he has fired nine employees — including four troopers — and referred two cases to federal prosecutors since taking over the Highway Patrol in June.

S.C. Department of Public Safety director Mark Keel reprimanded a trooper for violating Highway Patrol policy in one of the cases under federal review. However, the local solicitor said no state laws were broken and recommended the trooper get an award, according to internal affairs documents obtained by The State.

The rate of trooper firings by Keel — one a month — is far higher than under recent previous administrations. From Jan. 28, 2003, through Feb. 13, for example, 12 troopers were fired, department records show.

“I’m not going to put up with bad behavior,” Keel said in an interview last week with The State.

Keel wouldn’t discuss details of the four trooper firings, though he said none of them involved excessive force complaints.

Keel said his mandate from Gov. Mark Sanford, who nominated him, and the state Senate, which confirmed him, was to crack down on lax discipline within the approximately 1,000-member Highway Patrol.

On Feb. 29, Sanford ousted then-Public Safety Director James Schweitzer and Highway Patrol commander Col. Russell Roark, saying they should have fired a white trooper who used a racial slur and threatened to kill a fleeing black suspect during a 2004 Greenwood County traffic stop.

The State obtained a dashboard video of that incident and about two dozen others showing some troopers engaging in questionable behavior. Two troopers captured on the videos were indicted this year on federal civil rights charges. A Greenville jury acquitted one of them — Steve Garren — earlier this month.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said last week that the governor thinks Keel is doing a “great job so far.”

“He came in and let it be known that certain things that were going on in the past will not go on any longer,” Sawyer said. “We think the steps he’s taken so far are appropriate.”

David Latimer, executive director of the S.C. Troopers Association, said his organization is “100 percent supportive of Director Keel with regard to his mandate.”

“My experience with Mark has been that he believes that police officers should be held to a higher standard,” Latimer said.

‘JURY’S STILL OUT’

But state Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said last week that the “jury’s still out” on Keel.

Howard said he is concerned that, with the acquittal of Garren, troopers and their supervisors will take an “arrogant position” in dealing with the public.

“We unfortunately will have to wait and see whether (Keel’s) actions and his words match,” said Lonnie Randolph, president of the state NAACP chapter.

But Keel said the charge against Garren, accused of using his patrol car to deliberately strike a suspect fleeing on foot last year in Greenwood County, “sent a loud message as to what’s going to be tolerated and what’s not.”

Keel said troopers are getting that message. He said serious complaints are “down, and we intend to keep them that way,” though he couldn’t provide specific figures.

Most of the nine firings were for incidents or matters that occurred before he took over officially June 17, Keel said.

Besides the firings, he said he has reprimanded 19 employees, demoted two and suspended 10 — about 2½ a month. Of the 31 actions, 22 involved troopers, according to department spokesman Sid Gaulden.

In comparison, 57 troopers — or about one a month — were suspended during the five-year period from Jan. 28, 2003, through Feb. 13, department records show.

Howard said Keel needs to hold public hearings to better explain his disciplinary actions.

“The confidence of the public is way down with the patrol,” he said.

EXCESSIVE FORCE?

Keel has referred two cases to federal prosecutors to determine whether they involved excessive force.

In one case, the trooper involved “didn’t do anything wrong,” Keel said, since he was “pursuing a convicted escapee.”

In internal affairs records obtained by The State, trooper Tony Gardner said he was trying to protect the public in a June 5 incident on the U.S. 76 bridge over the Great Pee Dee River on the Florence-Marion county line.

Gardner told State Law Enforcement Division agents he saw a stolen four-wheeler all-terrain vehicle heading toward him on the bridge and thought the suspect, Timothy Cail — a prison escapee — would get away if he got past him.

Cail, 32, who escaped from the Palmer Pre-Release Center in Florence, was being pursued from the opposite direction by two Dillon County sheriff’s deputies, who were trying to box him in with their patrol cars, records show.

A dashboard video from one of the Dillon deputies — obtained last week by The State — shows Gardner’s patrol car colliding with the ATV and Cail being thrown over the guardrail.

“Trooper Gardner was adamant that he did not deliberately try to hit the 4-wheeler and was only trying to block the 4-wheeler’s escape,” according to his SLED statement.

Cail, serving a prison term for burglary in Horry County, eventually was caught by a Marion County deputy. He suffered scratches, according to his SLED statement.

Keel quickly put Gardner, 31, who has been with the patrol two years, on suspension and ordered SLED to investigate, records show. SLED turned its report over to 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements, who declined to charge Gardner.

“It appeared he handled an extremely volatile and dangerous situation with a great degree of poise, calm and good judgment,” Clements said in a July 2 letter to SLED. “I strongly believe that trooper Gardner should be commended.”

Keel gave Gardner a Level II reprimand — considered one of the lightest punishments — contending the trooper violated department policy by not getting approval from a supervisor during the chase to “implement a forcible stop,” which constitutes “deadly force” under the policy.

Keel told The State that based on his review of the incident and Clements’ opinion, Gardner did not deserve a stiffer punishment. Keel allowed the trooper to return to work.

Still, Keel said he referred the case and another to the U.S. Attorney’s Office out of caution.

The other case involves a trooper accused of using excessive force during the arrest of a drunken driving suspect in the Pee Dee area. Keel declined to identify the suspended trooper or discuss other details of the case. His spokesman, Gaulden, said SLED has not finished its investigation.

That trooper involved remains on suspension, pending the investigation’s completion, Keel said.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald last week confirmed his office is reviewing the two cases. He declined to comment further.

CHANGES MADE

Since becoming Public Safety director, Keel has fired one trooper for “negligent performance of duty and failure to provide accurate, truthful and complete information,” Gaulden said. Another trooper was dismissed for “unauthorized outside employment.” The other two were fired for insubordination or improper conduct, he said.

Keel said he fired a trooper trainee who “did not make the grade” while at the academy. Another trainee was dismissed for installing blue lights in his personal vehicle.

Keel said he personally reviews every complaint against a Public Safety employee. He has moved the Office of Professional Responsibility, which conducts internal affairs investigations, under his direct control. Previously, the office had been run by the department’s general counsel.

Keel, who spent nearly 29 years with SLED, said he also copied a line from the SLED policy manual into the Public Safety manual to require employees to “report and challenge any unethical behavior” of colleagues to supervisors.

“People should be encouraged to come forward and speak up,” Keel said, adding, “99 percent of troopers on the road are doing their job.”

Keel said he thinks troopers generally have been receptive to his get-tough message.

“Everywhere I go, they say, ‘Keep it up; you’re doing what’s right,’” he said. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”

Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.