After going 27 years without an officer shot in-the-line-of duty, two North Charleston police officers have been wounded this year, and in Richland County this week, a man is dead after trying to take a deputy's gun during a struggle.
The headline-grabbing stories of violence against police officers rings all too familiar in the City of Aiken, where Aiken Public Safety lost two officers who were killed in the line of duty in December 2011 and in January 2012.
Aiken Public Safety Director Charles Barranco said the department is constantly re-evaluating how to best keep its officers safe on the streets.
After the deaths of officers Scotty Richardson and Sandy Rogers, officers on patrol "tacked up" in patrol cars, which means two officers were in each vehicle.
Public Safety has since devised a plan that puts both one-man and two-man teams on the streets. The tack teams are in areas where gun violence is most often reported and most prevalent, he said.
The decision to put two-man units on the streets followed a city-wide study of crime in Aiken.
Barranco said tacking up is not a new concept.
A number of municipalities throughout the state and nation have officers paired up, he said, but it was a new concept for the City of Aiken.
According to statistics gathered from the study, Barranco stated that using the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division's criteria for serious crimes, some crimes have increased in fiscal year 2012 over fiscal year 2011, such as murders, burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts; but others have decreased, such as rapes, robbery and aggravated assaults.
"But, all calls we respond to have the potential to (escalate) -- gun calls, shots fired and felony calls -- but it could be as simple as a suspicious person," he explained.
He said the department continues to emphasize the importance of training.
Aiken Public Safety has sent its officers to valor training, the FBI's survival school and brought in instructors to teach a class geared specifically toward female officers.
He said the department uses best practices set in place by the state's Municipal Association and The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Association.
Both accused cop-killer Stephon Morrell Carter, 19, of Sunny Avenue in Aiken, charged with the murder of Richardson and attempted murder of Officer Travis Griffin, and Joshua Tremaine Jones, 26, of Batesburg, who is charged with Rogers' murder, are being held at the Aiken County detention center.
Copyright 2012 - Aiken Standard, S.C.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
