SC GOP senators push to fully fund body cameras, mandate SLED probes in shootings
The state would fully fund the state’s police body camera program and require all police involved shootings to be investigated by the state’s law enforcement agency under a proposal from S.C. Senate Republicans.
At the State House on Monday, the lawmakers on Monday unveiled parts of the legislation they hope will improve law enforcement in the state as Black Lives Matter protests continue in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
A Black Minnesota man, Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes while he pleaded for air. That officer and three others who did not intervene have been charged in Floyd’s death. The incident was captured on video that went viral, igniting outrage over police brutality and protests across the country including in South Carolina.
The South Carolina legislation, which lawmakers plan to file this week, most likely would not be taken up by the full body until January. However, Senate Republicans say they intend to take the legislation through the committee process before then.
“For a lot of the public, the frustration is there, (the) anger is there,” said state Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester. “A lot can’t articulate a specific policy change. What’s clear in every one of the conversations... was we need to be more transparent, we need to repair the trust of our law enforcement and we need to get the bad apples out of our system.”
Seeing this legislation proposed shows protests were heard, but addressing protesters’ concerns will require continued attention on the issue, said Lawrence Nathaniel, a leader of I Can’t Breathe SC, which organized recent protests in Columbia.
“The moment we see them giving up, we have to reactivate ourselves and take back to the streets again,” Nathaniel said.
Reforms include investigations, body cameras
The proposal also would require officers to intervene when they see another officer acting inappropriately. Not intervening could result in the officer losing certification and/or potential criminal charges, under the proposal laid out by Republicans.
The proposal also would centralize independent investigations of incidents involving officers that lead to death or great bodily injury. Under the proposal, the State Law Enforcement Division would investigate the officer-involved incidents and the state Attorney General’s Office would handle prosecutions.
State Sen. Greg Hembree, an Horry Republican and a former prosecutor, said most law enforcement departments have outside agencies investigate officer involved shootings, but it’s not required.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Office is the only agency in the state that does not regularly turn over investigations of its officer-involved shootings to SLED or another outside agency. The Richland County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment for this article.
Fully funding the state’s body camera program for police departments, creating a baseline standard for accreditation, and strengthening and standards for non-certified officers are also among the proposals laid out by the senators.
Making sure all remaining police officers have body cameras and storage for data is estimated to cost about $10 million this year, Hembree said.
Hembree did not have an estimate of the ongoing costs of making sure the equipment is up to date and the cost of storing the video over time.
“If we find out it’s not fully funded, we’re going to be pushing for more money for it,” said state Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, a supporter of the bill who is also the majority leader in the Senate.
South Carolina has seen protests erupt around the state after Floyd’s death. The four officers involved were fired, one has been charged with murder, and the three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting.
Earlier this month, I Can’t Breathe SC, a grassroots group, brought its demands to the governor’s mansion and the State House calling for expanded use of body cameras and requiring police officers to intervene when they see another officer using excessive force.
The group also called for a ban on the use of military-grade equipment and weapons by law enforcement, investing in implicit bias and community focused training for officers, requiring deescalation training, ending fees and fines for low-income individuals in the criminal justice system, more protection from civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement and requiring police departments to pay for lawsuits out of their own budgets.
Bennett, said Monday there have been efforts already in place, including deescalation training with law enforcement and requiring law enforcement to prosecute misconduct charges.
Nathaniel said the initial ideas from the Senate Republican are good points, but the way the legislative language is written will be key.
“They could talk about what they want in the bill, or what they want to pass as policy or legislation and so forth, but it’s still the language they use and how they use it. Any way they write that bill, a loophole can be used where at a point another black man can be killed,” Nathaniel said.
He said lawmakers should take input from activists from Black and brown communities.
“Republicans, I doubt most of them live in the same communities that we live in,” Nathaniel said.
Massey said he expects there will be more outreach to minority groups with this legislation, including sending meeting notices to churches and communities, rather than just placing notices on the legislative website.
“We do need citizen input on this,” Massey said. “Our primary goal is to save lives, but another big goal is to increase trust (and) to rebuild trust. That comes with rebuilding professionalism.”
Not a new effort
Some of the ideas proposed by the Republican senators have been proposed before by Democrats.
The state adopted a body camera program after Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, was shot to death by a white police officer in North Charleston in 2015. The shooting was recorded by a bystander with a cell phone. But lawmakers have not fully funded the program.
Massey said the proposal to centralize investigations in all officer involved shootings is something state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, has been called for.
“This will have to be a bipartisan effort, there is no way we could do it on our own, and we shouldn’t,” Massey added referring to the legislative effort.
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, said he believed Democrats would be supportive of the fully funding body cameras.
“Black people in South Carolina and across the nation have been getting their (butts) kicked unnecessarily by the police for a significant number of years,” Kimpson said. “Historically, Democrats have been leading the charge on articulating police reform for a very long time and I believe that’s well documented. I’m encouraged and I welcome the majority party to the discussion in 2020 and in the aftermath of recent high profile police misconduct cases.”
He added having SLED investigate officer involved shootings isn’t a new idea.
“I don’t know why those bills haven’t passed, but I think we can find some common ground there. We just want to make sure that the investigating entity is truly independent,” Kimpson said.
