Law enforcement officials stress importance of penny tax vote at Morning Blend
“Have you hugged a cop today,” asked Police Chief Gerald Brooks at Thursday’s Greenwood Area Chamber of Commerce Morning Blend meeting. “I’ll admit,” he told the crowd, “some of you look very huggable — but some of you don’t.”
Laughter filled Inn on the Square’s ballroom as Brooks and others gave the crowd their explanation and pitch for why Greenwood should pass the Capital Projects Sales Tax referendum in November. Paul Bagnolli, chair of the public safety committee for the penny tax and one of the people who helped develop the county fire service’s eight-year master plan, was the first to take the microphone.
He highlighted some of the projects the committee selected to be funded by the penny tax if it passes in November. Among them were countywide improvements to the emergency radio systems, improvements to law enforcement record management and the fire services master plan.
The master plan would be broken down into three phases, he said. The first would include renovating existing fire stations at the cost of $6.4 million, then building six new stations for an additional $3 million. The new stations, he said, would put 99 percent of homes within five road miles of a fire station’s service, reducing response times. The final phase would build a training center for all emergency response agencies in the county.
“The environment that we live in, there is often a multi-agency response,” he said, “and we have no way of training together.”
When Brooks went up to speak, he stressed that many improvements have been made to law enforcement’s record keeping, but much still needs to be done. He said the system used to restrict access to records between the police department and sheriff’s office.
“The sheriff and I worked closely together to tear down those walls,” he said, “but that system is antiquated and out of date.”
He also highlighted a proposed project for the Greenwood Fire Department — replacing a 1973 ladder truck with a new platform truck.
“Under S.C. law, that truck would qualify for an antique vehicle tag,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that belongs in a museum, not responding to a fire.”
The radio system improvements were the focus for John Long, officer in charge of professional standards with the sheriff’s office. He explained that except for Lander and Piedmont Technical College police, all law enforcement and other emergency response agencies are dispatched from a centralized location, but none of the agencies can talk directly to one another. For some agencies, such as the county fire services, signal strength can even be an issue.
“They get out into some rural places in the county and they have no service,” he said. “They’re relying entirely on cellphones.”
Long and the others urged those in attendance to vote for the capital project sales tax referendum. The two candidates for sheriff were in the crowd, and weighed in on the presentations and their views of the county’s needs. Dennis Kelly, the Republican nominee, said he thinks its important to provide for the needs of emergency responders.
“I think it would provide and improved service to the county,” he said.
The Democratic nominee, Arnie Fisher, said the sheriff’s office’s radio systems were out of date when he worked there in 2012 and 2013. Money spent getting the radios up to date countywide would be money well spent, he said.
“It can be a safety issue for a deputy or a police officer,” he said. “We have to be able to communicate and work together in the field.”
Contact Damian Dominguez at 864-634-7548 or follow on Twitter @IJDDOMINGUEZ.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Jul 14, 2016
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZddominguez@indexjournal.com