Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott files to run for re-election
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has filed to run for re-election.
It will be the lifelong lawman’s eighth race for the position that he has occupied since 1996. If Lott wins, and serves out his full term, he will have tied T. Alex Heise as the longest-serving sheriff of Richland County. Heise was sheriff from 1921 to 1952.
During Heise’s time in office, he raised the number of deputies from three to twelve, but his officers were required to provide their own weapons and vehicles. Today, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has over 900 employees and a budget of over $40 million.
“Law enforcement is ever-changing,” Lott told The State Tuesday. “Things that were state of the art twenty years ago are out of date today. The job of sheriff is to try to stay ahead of those changes.”
Lott, a Democrat, began his career at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in 1975 as a patrol officer. Between 1993 and 1996, he served as police chief in St. Matthews in Calhoun County, but returned to Richland County following his first election.
In 2021, Lott was named sheriff of the year by the National Sheriffs’ Association.
As sheriff, Lott said he has expanded community programs, including increasing mental health resources for deputies and the public as well as establishing the Community Action Team, made of deputies who are tasked with “building bridges” in specific geographic areas. Lott said he has also invested heavily in the forensic side of investigations, building out his department’s own DNA testing lab as well as the capacity to analyze firearms.
Lott has largely avoided controversy during his time in office. He has been quick to fire and even charge deputies who commit misconduct. He also has defended his department’s ability to police itself. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department investigates shootings that its officers are involved in. Other agencies typically request that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conduct those investigations.
Lott defended this practice last week, after two of his deputies shot 17-year-old Jeremy Taylor, who is accused of stealing a truck and shooting at deputies and wounding a department K-9.
“We have the capability of doing that and we’ve been doing that for 10 years now. Citizens of Richland County trust us and know that we’re going to do what’s proper,” Lott said following the shooting.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no other candidates had filed to run for sheriff in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. The filing deadline is noon on Monday, April 1. The primaries will be held June 11 and the general election is Nov. 5.
Lott told The State that his main law enforcement priority was continuing to combat youth gun violence.
“We’re going to continue what we’ve been doing,” Lott said. “We’re trying to create a generation that doesn’t live or die by the gun.”
Last year, Richland County was rocked by high profile shootings. In April, an after-prom party at Meadowlake Park, in northeast Columbia, nearly turned deadly when teenagers opened fire on each other. In September, three teens were killed and a fourth was shot on a Sunday afternoon in Eau Claire by another group of teens.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of Lott’s deputies, Braylyn Salmond, was awarded “Deputy of the Year” by Building Better Communities, a local nonprofit that combats gun violence.
In a statement, Perry Bradley, the director of BBC, described Lott’s response to gun violence as “phenomenal,” writing “his passion and dedication flows through the entire department.”