Editorials from around South Carolina: police video, grand juries, state surplus funds

Don’t hide police video from public

(W)hile S.C. lawmakers wisely voted to require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, the law allows only people captured on video, criminal defendants and civil litigants access to the recordings.

The police should not have the license to withhold video from incidents when someone is injured or killed by an officer. Doing so only would widen the credibility gap between the authorities and the public.

Some law enforcement agencies refuse to release dashcam footage, which is supposed to be available to the public. …

Consider, too, the inevitable decline of trust that occurs when lengthy delays in the release of evidence cause the public to suspect a cover-up by law enforcement officials.

Make grand juries fair

In many counties in South Carolina, your chance of winning at least some money in the lottery is better than that of going before a county grand jury and walking away without being indicted. Greenville defense attorney Steve Henry believes the grand jury process has become “a joke,” and he and some other defense attorneys think it’s time for the state Legislature to level the playing field in the closed proceedings that determine whether a defendant will be indicted and therefore face a trial on criminal charges.

Since 2011, Greenville County grand juries have returned true bills 99.9 percent of the time on more than 18,700 indictments, Greenville News reporter Romando Dixson found when reviewing records from the county Clerk of Court’s office. Greenville County is not unique in this area; in fact, in most places in South Carolina grand juries indict almost all of the people who come before them.

One significant way to bring about a more level playing field and ensure transparency is to record the proceedings of grand juries. Even when the information is not made public — and that often is the case — the very nature of having these closed proceedings recorded can increase confidence in the fairness of the process.

Roads are bestuse of state surplus

Our state does a good job of beating the drum about economic development. We acknowledge that more business and industry translates into more well-paying jobs for the Palmetto State’s residents. We often successfully lure those businesses and industries into the state, but we neglect to take steps to retain them. When our roads get into such a state of disrepair that business and industry begins to eye other states because their infrastructure is far superior to ours, we have a problem that needs addressed.

Moreover, it’s a slap in the face to the taxpayers who go back and forth to the jobs and who are forking out more money on auto repairs because their cars and trucks go through tires quicker than tailgaters eat a meal before a football game, or get wheel alignments and shocks more frequently than their drivers get their teeth cleaned each year.

Investing in our state sometimes is as simple as maintaining our state. Our roads and bridges need to be maintained, especially if we are thinking of building new ones to accommodate real or anticipated growth. The $87 million (year-end state budget surplus) might be a drop in the bucket, but it’s a drop that might keep our state on the road to economic growth.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Editorials from around South Carolina: police video, grand juries, state surplus funds."