Officers gather at barbecue to fellowship, honor fallen comrades

South Carolina barbecue and live saxophone music set the stage Thursday for a shindig long awaited by local law enforcement officers.

It all began in July, around the time of the Emanuel Nine massacre in Charleston and the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the State House grounds.

“We just wanted the officers to be able to come in and take a deep breath,” said Zackary Wise, chief of the Bureau of Protective Services, which protects the state capitol and other state facilities.

Wise and Maj. John Hancock, both with the bureau, originally scheduled a get-together for October to mark a difficult time, with officers working lots of extra hours and providing security for contentious rallies at the capitol. But they had to change their plans when flooding struck Columbia that month and law enforcement called all hands on deck.

So on Thursday, about 150 officers attended the gathering at the S.C. Troopers Association headquarters in Columbia. Attendees came from several local and state agencies as well as some federal agencies.

Organizers took the gathering as a chance to pay tribute to Forest Acres police officer Greg Alia, who was shot during an arrest, and Columbia officer Stacy Case, who died in a car accident while responding to a call. Local artist Karl Wilkes, who previously served in the Richland County Sheriff’s Department alongside Hancock, crafted original paintings for both officers, showing each officer’s face above a depiction of the State House. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook accepted the paintings for his department and for Forest Acres.

This year also has marked a high number of shootings involving South Carolina officers. A shooting in Cayce on Tuesday was the 45th, according to SLED records. In 2014, there were 42 such shootings.

“I don’t want to say it’s a source of stress, but regardless of what profession you’re in, when you have one of your own that’s going through a difficult time – whether it be a shooting or bad traffic accident or whatever – you think about that,” Hancock said.

About eight officers spearheaded cooking for the event, organizers said. After chowing down on pulled pork, baked beans and coleslaw, attendees finished off with a raffle.

Wise said it was encouraging to see so many folks come together to support each other after a difficult year.

“We’re in a battle every day, and it’s good to have a ceasefire every now and then, to say, ‘Let’s take a deep breath and we’ll get back in the battle later,’ ” he said. “Now is a time to rest a bit. So we felt like this was a great opportunity to serve the officers.”