JAMES FLOWERS FILES TO RUN AGAINST LEON LOTT
A former investigator with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has filed to run for sheriff of Richland County.
James Flowers, 43, will run against longtime incumbent Leon Lott – who has been sheriff of Richland County since 1996. The former University of South Carolina graduate (who played football for the Gamecocks) left SLED last October to seek the post.
Flowers has big goals for the department – which he spelled out last month in an open letter to deputies.
“I am going to make sure that each of you are the best trained, best equipped, and best supported officers in the state,” Flowers wrote. “I will clearly spell out my expectations to you and you will always know exactly where I stand.”
Flowers also addressed issues of pay – and a perceived lack of cooperation offered by Lott’s agency to other Midlands, S.C.-area law enforcement agencies.
“I will have a fair salary structure and incentives for educational achievement and specialized training,” he added. “You will receive the money that you earned while working extra duty. We will partner with other agencies and end any and all conflict with our law enforcement brothers. We will become nationally accredited and we will become a flagship agency and lead this county into the 21st century.”
Flowers has been campaigning for weeks, so his announcement is not a surprise …
Lott’s agency has been mired in controversy in recent months – most notably the debacle surrounding deputy Ben Fields, who was terminated from his position following an altercation with a student at Spring Valley High School in northeast Columbia, S.C.
Lott’s office has also been accused of manipulating crime data to make it appear as though Richland County is becoming safer when in fact crime is on the rise.
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31 comments
I hope Mr Flowers wins. They are way past due for change at RCSD. The Ben Fields fiasco, which FitsNews helped push and incite, was but one of many blights on RCSD and the way its deputies are treated since Lott went past his first term.
One thing, “National Accreditation” is a costly process that in reality, does not accomplish much more than give the Chief or Sheriff bragging rights and a pretty feather to stick in their hat, and another notation on their resume’. Money squandered on that effort could be put to much better use, elsewhere. About 15-20 years ago, Irmo PD I am told, got to wear the (Nazi) eagle style accreditation decal on their cars for having “achieved National Accreditation”. As the story goes, it was time for Accreditation renewal and the Chief of that day presented this budget item to Town Council. One of the councilmen, believe it or not, apparently had an eye toward saving taxpayer dollars and asked exactly WHAT the Town of Irmo would be getting for this (back then) eight, ten, or whatever thousand dollar expenditure from their budget. When the Chief hit them with all of the (canned bullshit) talking points such as “greater pride and confidence from citizens, greater accountability of the officers, blah, blah, blah”, council wisely decided that money could be better spent elsewhere and shortly thereafter, the Nazi-style eagles disappeared from their cars. The talking points for Accreditation remind me of ads for kids’ tennis shoes from the 1960’s. “Run faster, squat lower, jump higher, etc.”
Pro Keds.
PF Flyers, Keds, you name it. You have the idea!
No wait, P F flyers?
More than a few years ago I was at a friend’s auto shop when one of Leona’s investigators walked in to question my friend about a large truck that had been reported stolen and had been left in front of his shop a few weeks prior to this visit. The investigator asked a few questions and then looked at me and said that I should leave. My friend said we weren’t through with our discussion, which truthfully we were just gabbing. The investigator asked me to leave to which I politely replied no because I saw what he was trying to do to my friend. I also told him I knew something about it but he ignored my comment. He was trying to pin the theft on my friend, which I knew was untrue. So he continued to ask questions and I realized that he wasn’t very bright, was on the wrong track, and didn’t ask the proper questions, and did not want to believe my friends answers. After a while he saw he wasn’t getting anywhere and probably didn’t want me there as a witness when he was trying to frame my friend, he left. My friend and I discussed the situation and I told him that I would help him in any way that I could, including checking with other folks around St. Andrews. The investigator never came back again. This is a rambling statement but that incident still irritates me!
Good thing you stuck around to be a witness for your friend, Shifty! Sounds like this guy got where he was by investing in good knee pads at promotion time. Hey, it happens.
I wished that I could have been a witness when Donnie Myers wrecked his car a few weeks ago! See if he tells a judge I am a liar then!
Oh shit, that one went all the way to trial, eh?
I don’t know — I’m just saying because I hate liars in general and my experience as a witness in that trial.
I am with you on the liars, Shifty!!!!
Courts have nothing to do with the truth. Court’s are a stage for legal manipulation and rich folks. When the ordinary person goes into court and has no money he is a victim of circumstances beyond anything he can do without the money and proper representation and even then he is at a disadvantage. The power lies strictly in the hands of the judge and lawyers. Juries are puppets in most cases.
You may be right. I don’t know. But if you are right, how do all the ski bags get by with so much crap?
Leon has stayed in office 12 years too long. He is a friend to no one but himself and his actions of holding himself accountable is publicly parading ex-deputies in front of the news media. Leon is a modern day Pontius Pilate who enjoys offering his employees up to an angry crowd in lieu of him taking responsibility for his own doings. We know the real Leon Lott and it has been past time we tell him he is not welcome back to our sheriff’s department.
Not true. In the case of Sheriff’s departments, it also provides grievance processes for officers who believe they are being disciplined or treated improperly. That’s kind of a big deal, and goes a long way towards reducing the political manipulations and terminations so common with agencies run by elected officials. It also provides some modicum of standard for the department to meet, and provides some benefit if the department is sued over policy or procedure.
Interesting! I was unaware of that aspect of Accreditation. Is it legally binding regarding employees rights to process, or would state law not trump Accreditation dictates? In other words, if the Sheriff wants to go, “off with his head”, as Lott has done with many unfortunate scapegoats in his department, is there anything that will really stop them?
Failure to abide by those policies provides for actual legal remedies for officers. Violation of due process, and all that. Falls under administrative law. In short, yeah, it’s pretty binding.
Well, in that case, I stand corrected. I have seen the Accreditation process from a municipal viewpoint and was left wholly unimpressed. In the case of a Sheriff’s employee, this sounds like a good thing.
Well, that little clause “works at the pleasure of the sheriff” debunks that theory.
Actually, no. Establishing policies and guidelines as required by accreditation (CALEA, etc.) does in fact provide remedies for officers…. Sheriffs don’t like being sued in federal court for little things like violation of due process (established policies and guidelines not followed regarding discipline or dismissal). There’s a reason so few SDs in SC are accredited.
“…provides grievance processes for officers who believe they are being disciplined or treated improperly…”
In South Carolina an elected Sheriff can fire a Deputy at will
No reason, no appeal, nothing, nada, you are out of here, gone, fucked
Uh oh, this is what happened last time a black man ran for sheriff in Richland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sPKCc4SS0
I like the part at the end where the Sheriff says, “… and they are so dumb.”
It reminds me of my thoughts when the citizens of RC voted down their last chance for change/improvement.
I talked with people who say they voted for Reed, only to have Lott’s name show up on their ballot before they confirmed their vote. Given the dirty stuff attributed to RC elections staff in recent years in addition to recent news validating what many of us suspected regarding easy manipulation of voting machines, it makes me wonder.
Thank you sir for the extra motivation.
Regarding National Accreditation, I think it’s a good thing. I do know that Laurens County Sheriff Ricky Chastain had his pulled, primarily due to his screwing (literally) his subordinates, then using county dollars to pay for the abortion.
That’s the kind of crap that they don’t tolerate.
If you have the right connections anything is possible.
I have taken a number of shots at Neon Leon
It is true there are a number of areas in which he can and needs to improve RCSD
With that said I will support him over Flowers
Flowers’ talking points are the same canned bullshit that one hears from someone on the outside who wants to be inside
Flowers makes a lot of veiled promises regarding pay issues but unless something has changed the RCSD’s budget allocation is not his to determine
Well brother I did tell you you would get more pay, but you gotta understand the County didn’t cough up the money and l ain’t going to take it out my pay so you ain’t gettin any more money
I agree, some of the promises/proposals are kind of cliche’, but as I have said about other incumbents who overspent their usefulness in office, the sooner Lott is out, the better. His butt has become way too encrusted to the seat of the office of Sheriff, over time. The sooner they find a suitable replacement, the better.
Anyone who has ever worked around Flowers knows his level of integrity…. and was glad to see him on officer-involved shoot investigations. He played by the rules, and you KNEW you’d get a fair shake. That said, you’d be amazed at where a lot of the RCSD budget goes. There actually IS room to provide pay increases.
Uh….yaah…whut we needs is a sheriff who’ll be a union thug chief ‘cuz we wants mo pay
After all–we done rehired incompetent Lillian McBride…it’s the Zimbabwe Dimwit way !!!
Why are Richland County Deputies riding around in Lexington County with their blue lights on? Does Neon-Leon so arrogant to think his jurisdiction bleeds into a bordering County? He did a press release for: Dodge Magnums; Dodge Challengers; and running blue lights. Idiot.
Just think, Leon Lott is the LAST white guy in any leadership position in Richland County. With him gone, the transformation to Detroit or Ferguson is complete.