Is safety at stake because of Lexington deputy ‘staffing crisis’? Here’s what numbers say
How well is the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department staffed?
How much are staffing issues impacting the safety of residents?
And how much will the department be able to add staff to keep the county safe as it continues to grow?
These questions are at the heart of the current race for Lexington County sheriff, which likely will be decided in the upcoming Republican primary, since no Democrat has filed to run. Election day is June 11, and early voting is already in full swing.
Incumbent Jay Koon is seeking his third full term in office after first being elected in a special election in 2015. He faces two challengers: Alan Driggers, who retired as a Lexington sheriff’s lieutenant after 24 years with the department, and Billy Warren, a former Lexington deputy and 32-year veteran of the state Highway Patrol. Both challengers question if more could be done to keep up with staffing shortages and if the department is doing enough to keep up with crime currently and to be in position to deal with the future needs of the growing county.
The available numbers show that the department has struggled with staffing issues in recent years, but they also show signs that things are turning around.
Annual reports from the department detail that in 2020, for the first time in eight years, it lost more employees (90) than it was able to hire (77). That trend worsened in 2021, with 101 employees leaving the department and 54 being hired.
Things turned around somewhat in 2022 (83 hires and 69 departures) and 2023 (65 hires and 61 departures).
“There is no doubt that labor shortages have been felt across our country in all areas or work,” Koon said via email. “Law enforcement has been hit hard coming out of COVID and all the civil unrest of 2020. Our profession faced three key issues. Officers that were eligible to retire did so, less people were interested in a law enforcement career so applications dwindled and some officers had enough and left the profession.”
The department is currently advertising positions for deputies in detention, judicial/court services and patrol with a starting salary range between about $47,000 and $54,000. That compares well to deputy postings at the neighboring Richland County Sheriff’s Department, listed with a per-hour wage minimum equivalent to about $46,000.
“Please understand the sheriff has no power by himself to raise salaries and benefits,” Koon said. “We were helped tremendously when Governor McMaster asked the Department of Administration to conduct a Law Enforcement Salary Study in 2022. They produced the most comprehensive study that I have seen in my career. I was able to take this independent study and show our county council and our administrator that we had fallen behind in salaries. They understood our situation and pledged to help. By all working together we have been able to raise benefits to get back competitive in each of the recent budgets.”
Koon’s challengers say that while there have been some gains in staffing in recent years, a change in leadership is needed to bolster the department to keep up with the county’s growth.
Warren said he sees a morale problem with the department contributing to its issues with staffing, adding that he thinks Koon doesn’t do enough to interact with the public and show support for his deputies. He’d like to see more press conferences explaining incidents and issues, citing Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott as an example of someone he sees as doing better in this arena.
“They know they’re not going to make a lot of money,” Warren said of sheriff’s deputies. “The number one thing they want is a leader that will have their back. So they can effectively go do their job. The hottest topic is, was and always will be in law enforcement, it’s use of force. They need to know they go out here and do their job and do the fight without fear.”
He said he hears from people who are frustrated with response times and a lack of response to some calls. He blamed this largely on staffing shortages, adding that the county’s ongoing growth will only exacerbate these issues.
“You can’t be proactive when you’re severely short of help,” Warren said. “What we will do is rebuild that department and likely need to add to that due to our growth.”
Despite issues with staffing, rates of more serious crimes — aggravated assault, arson, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape and robbery — have dropped for four years running, with the sheriff’s department reporting about 6,400 serious crimes in 2020, about 5,700 in 2021, about 5,800 in 2022 and about 4,900 in 2023.
Per numbers reported to the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, neighboring Richland County recorded about 10,600 such crimes in 2021 and about 10,000 in 2022. Richland has a population of about 420,000 compared to Lexington’s roughly 300,000.
Driggers, the other challenger, has echoed Warren in calling the department’s staffing situation a crisis.
“Sheriff Koon is a good man. I worked for him for five years. He’s an honest, a good man,” Driggers said. “I think the failure has been not involving the public, not letting them know, ‘We need your assistance in bringing attention to this with County Council so that we can increase funding for the sheriff’s department.’ The only way that’s going to happen is if the citizens ask for it. I believe if they know about these issues, they will send that message. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Driggers noted that he worked his final 16 years with the department as human resources manager, saying he feels this gives him particular insight into staffing issues.
He takes particular issue with an instance in 2022, when the Lexington-Richland 5 school district and the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department had to lean on Richland County deputies to fill gaps due to a shortage of school resource officers.
Koon noted that the county subsequently implemented a plan in 2023 to have at least one officer assigned to every school within its borders.
“As the population continues to grow, when there’s more people coming in, that’s more opportunity for crime, and we’ve got to be ready for it,” Driggers said. “We’re not ready for it right now.”
Koon indicated he’s well aware of the need to keep up with growth and is working to do so.
“Our county has seen a tremendous amount of growth and there is no end in sight,” he said. “Even with the growth, our crime rate has declined. There is no doubt we will need to expand in order to service the growing areas. We have plans to do that with facilities and will also have to add some personnel.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
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