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Newly elected state senator JD Chaplin wants South Carolina’s top prosecutor to weigh in on the latest bizarre developments tied to a still-unfolding police/political drama in the rural Pee Dee region of the Palmetto State.
As FITSNews reported last month, the mayor of McColl, S.C. – a town of roughly 2,000 people located just miles from the North Carolina line – died last Tuesday (November 26, 2024) in a car crash while reportedly being pursued by deputies of the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
At the time of the crash, 49-year-old mayor George Garner was part of an ongoing investigation led by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Adding another element of insanity to the story? The crash took place just days after McColl police chief Bob Hale – and all four of the town’s police officers – resigned en masse from their posts in protest of budget cuts and allegations of a hostile work environment allegedly instigated by an unnamed town council member. The mass resignations – which generated national headlines – left McColl without a single sworn law enforcement officer serving the town.
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RELATED | MAYOR DEAD FOLLOWING CAR CRASH
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FITSNews has been inundated with tips in the aftermath of Garner’s death – which we are investigating in anticipation of additional coverage.
In the hours prior to his death, Garner told reporters he had reached a memorandum of understanding with MCSO to provide police services to the town – and Marlboro sheriff Charles Lemon confirmed this week his agency had assumed those responsibilities.
Nonetheless, a Texas-based nonprofit group called the One in Five Foundation – which formed in the aftermath of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting – announced earlier this week its intention to send a group of “citizen patrol teams” to the town.
The patrols purport to be part of “an effort to help ensure the safety of the town’s student population and overall community.”
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Specifically, the group said it “plans to aid specifically the McColl school community in further assuring the safety of its students, school community members and overall community through our patrols.”
“Uniformed patrol members are specially trained in situational awareness and conflict resolution,” the statement continued. “(Patrols) are slated to include over a dozen team members for ongoing rotation at twelve-hour shifts, with more being recruited for ongoing efforts.”
When McColl residents expressed concerns to local media about an out-of-state group sending unsolicited “patrols” to its city, the group fired back that it was not asking for permission from – or seeking collaboration with – local law enforcement.
“The community does not need the sheriff’s permission to be empowered to do its part,” a statement from the foundation noted. “As a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the safety of students and communities across this nation – quite frankly, neither do we.”
The One in Five Foundation purports to “provide additional security and safety training resources to enhance a schools individual security” as part of its mission to end school violence.
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As for Chaplin, he wants the office of attorney general Alan Wilson to determine whether “a non-profit engaging in quasi-law enforcement activities usurps a municipality’s police powers.”
“It has come to my attention that a national non-profit group is sending individuals to a South Carolina municipality to engage in ‘volunteer patrols’ following resignations by the municipality’s police chief and police force,” Chaplin wrote in his letter (.pdf) to the attorney general. “Such quasi-law enforcement activity by an out-of-state, non-profit group raises serious legal questions.”
According to Chaplin, he believes “in the rule of law and keeping our citizens safe,” but is concerned that “this non-profit’s actions… appear to be an unlawful usurpation” of McColl’s municipal authority.
Again, FITSNews had just begun to dig into the flood of incoming tips we received in the aftermath of Garner’s death when this latest front began to unfold. Stay tuned for updates on all of these developments as they become available…
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THE LETTER…
(Provided)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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