With highway deaths up, SC Public Safety asks for more troopers

One of South Carolina’s top cops is asking the S.C. Legislature to help increase the state’s trooper strength to help curb crashes.

The Department of Public Safety has asked for an additional $3.3 million in their annual budget request to hire 50 additional S.C. Highway Patrol troopers. The agency’s total request in state funds for the 2017-18 fiscal year is of $12 million.

Agency director, Leroy Smith, told a House budget-writing panel on Tuesday, that the are 805 troopers working the roads. That’s up from 760 full-time troopers in 2015. Ideal numbers would place manpower around 950 to 1,000.

Smith said the higher number of troopers is needed to address a growing number of events troopers work, in addition to patrolling the state’s roads, such as games.

“There is a greater need for more troopers on the highway, obviously, to reduce collisions,” Smith said. “We’ve lost positions over the years. That’s why we’re here today.”

Both 2015 and 2016 have been deadly years for motorists in South Carolina. In Richland County, the number of people killed rose by 68 percent in 2016.

DPS also requested an additional $5.4 million to help them replenish equipment, such as cars, stun guns, cameras and radios. DPS gets $2 million annually to buy 81 cars a year. The agency hopes to make that number 200. Of the $5.4 million requested in new money, $2.9 million would go to help meet that 200-cars mark.

Approval of DPS’ request is far from over. Their budget has to go through several levels of approval, before it can become part of the state roughly $8 billion budget before the Legislature adjourns in May.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 6:27 PM with the headline "With highway deaths up, SC Public Safety asks for more troopers."