$8M in federal money going to new police hires in SC. Activist objects to more cops

The U.S. Department of Justice will be spending $8 million to hire 63 more police officers throughout South Carolina, officials announced this week.

The money was awarded to 13 S.C. law enforcement agencies as part of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program. Nationwide, the Justice Department spent $400 million to hire 2,732 police officers, according to a news release.

Few of the officers will be headed to the S.C. Midlands. More than half of the positions will be for law enforcement agencies in the Lowcountry, according to the release.

The positions are meant to bolster “community policing,” which is when law enforcement meet with political, faith, community, racial and ethnic leaders from the area they serve to figure out how best to serve the area, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Shoemake.

“Any time your police spend more time in the community and with community members, that’s a good thing,” Shoemake said.

Shoemake said the announcement has nothing to do with nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.

Rather, the deadline for law enforcement agencies to apply for the grant money was in March, Shoemake said.

Kym Smith, who participated in the Columbia protests this weekend, is skeptical. She said publishing this press release now was a “scare tactic” to intimidate protesters who are critical of law enforcement.

“We don’t need more police,” said Smith, who is a member of Columbia’s Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Asked where the $400 million should go instead, Smith said it could go just about anywhere else, such as education, alleviating homelessness and cleaning up the town of Denmark’s water supply.

“They would rather fund racist police programs that keep people in line,” Smith said.

Smith said she believes police should be defunded, an increasingly popular, broad idea that means significantly cutting police budgets and possibly reinvesting that money into social services.

She scoffs at the term “community policing.”

“If the police officer comes in and does the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ with us, we’re supposed to be okay with them oppressing us?” Smith asked. “Community policing is something they say just to appease people.”

Here is a summary of which departments are getting the money and how many officers it will fund.

• Bluffton Police Department:$250,000 for 2 officers;

• Camden Police Department: $326,644 for 3 officers;
• Charleston County Sheriff’s Office: $1,250,000 for 10 officers;
• Chester County Sheriff’s Office: $1,015,824 for 6 officers;
• Chester Police Department: $382,963 for 3 officers;
• Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office: $395,089, for 4 officers;
• Conway Police Department: $250,000 for 2 officers;
• Greeleyville Police Department: $97,124, for 1 officer;
• Hampton County Sheriff’s Office: $367,989 for 3 officers;
• Hardeeville Police Department: $250,000 for 2 officers;
• Horry County Police Department: $1,875,000 for 15 officers;
• Myrtle Beach Police Department: $1,250,000 for 10 officers
• Spartanburg Police Department: $351,762 for 2 officers.