Irmo is only half-covered by county hate crime ordinance. Will it add its own?
Irmo could become the latest Midlands municipality to prohibit hate crimes inside the town boundaries.
The town council discussed adding an enhancement charge to hate-motivated incidents at a Tuesday meeting. Councilwoman Phyllis Coleman proposed that Irmo join other local governments in adding an additional charge when Irmo police investigators can show a crime was motivated by bias against one of several listed identity categories.
“I thought of our young people, and how bullying can escalate into hate and intimidation,” Coleman said. “I’m concerned that our citizens and the people coming to visit feel safe within the walls of the town of Irmo.”
If Irmo adopts a hate crime ordinance, it would join 19 other cities and towns across South Carolina with similar laws on the books, including Columbia, Cayce and Arcadia Lakes. Richland County became the first in the state to adopt a countywide hate ordinance last month, covering any crime motivated by a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, disability or other bias. Irmo straddles the line between Richland and Lexington counties.
“Half the town is in Richland County, but the other half is not covered by the policy,” Coleman said. “The impetus for this is saying that all our citizens should be covered.”
Mayor Bill Danielson said he reviewed the local statutes and the federal hate crime law, and “I’d love to say I reviewed the state law, but we don’t have one,” Danielson said.
South Carolina is one of only two states in the country without a statewide hate crime law on the books, the other being Wyoming.
Some council members were concerned about whether a hate crime ordinance would be enforceable. Incoming town administrator Jim Crosland told the council the maximum penalty a town ordinance could impose would be a 30-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.
“You might say there’s not a lot of penalty for it, but it’s more symbolic than anything,” Coleman told The State after the meeting. “It’s important to have that kind of symbolism as people come through our town, that this type of behavior won’t be acceptable.”
A hate crime charge would be in addition to an existing crime, for example if an investigator found an act of vandalism was motivated by bias, Crosland said.
“So if you show up in a grocery store and just start yelling obscenities, it’s not necessarily going to apply,” Danielson said.
Columbia adopted its hate crime ordinance in 2019, while Cayce voted to add its version to city ordinances last year.
Crosland, who was formerly the city manager in Cayce, said in the year since its city ordinance was adopted he was unsure if any charges had been brought related to it.
Irmo Police Chief Robert Dale told the council any ordinance wouldn’t be an additional burden on officers, once they have clear enforceable guidelines. “We can enforce whatever council decides,” he said.
Coleman said she would work with Crosland to come up with a draft ordinance to present at an upcoming meeting, based on the ordinances that other governments around the region have enacted, making tweaks where necessary to be specific to Irmo.
“I wanted us to be proactive, like other municipalities and counties have, and not wait until some behavior gets out of hand,” she said. “I want us to set the tone about who we are.”
Between 2022 and 2023, reported hate crimes in the state increased by 77% — from 65 total incidents in 2022 to 115 incidents in 2023, according to data tracked by the U.S. Department of Justice. Race and religion were the two most common motivators for South Carolina hate crimes in 2023, according to the data.
.jpg)