North Augusta mayoral candidate Richard Adams said in a recent interview that several city police officers had left to take new positions with the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Department.
Adams indicated that the officers leaving were leaving because North Augusta offered few opportunities for advancement.
[adrotate banner=”21″]
Adams also said that loss of officers has led to what he believes is a crime wave of both home and vehicle burglaries. Adams also indicated that a lack of an understaffed police department is allowing gang activity to creep in the city.
North Augusta Police Chief John C. Thomas disagrees with Adams. He says that despite losing several officers, the department is still functioning at a high level.
“Problems with retaining police officers are nationwide,” Thomas said. “We really don’t have a whole lot of problems retaining them. We sometimes have officers that want to see if the grass is greener on the other side, but by far, we don’t lose a lot of them.”
Thomas believes that one of the biggest selling point is North Augusta’s competitiveness and pay.
“We are one of highest paid agencies in the CSRA because of dual role of police and fire. That attracts a lot of people and keeps us pretty close to fully staffed,” he said.
According to Thomas, the department receives the support that it needs from the city council and touts that they have great equipment.
Adams said that the police department is “definitely understaffed. There are eight openings on the police force, like today,” he stated.
Chief Thomas indicated the number the department was only down by about three.
“One reason we have a lot of police officers coming and taking off is because they are not able to rise in the ranks,” Adams stated.
[adrotate banner=”13″]
“This is the first time I can remember there being a turnover in the sheriff’s race in my 11 years.” Thomas mentioned that at least 3 of the officers that left were from Edgefield and saw the opportunity to go back home. “The turnover in the sheriffs race attracted them.”
“Unfortunately, in our line of work we don’t have the availability to promote people until we lose people, or they retire,” Thomas said. “When the new sheriff takes over, he obviously isn’t going to rehire some people, so that creates an opportunity for some upward mobility. “
According to Chief Thomas, at least five officers and one dispatcher left North Augusta to join other departments recently.
Adams believes that crime is picking up. “There are car break-ins every night,” he stated.
Chief Thomason counters with, “The numbers don’t indicate that there are a lot of house break-ins or burglaries. This is a very safe place. We are in the top 10 safest cities in South Carolina.”
Adams believes that a lack of police presence is to blame for break-ins. He indicated that police presence is a good deterrent, but the deterrent wasn’t there due to a reduction in police staffing.
“If you know a police officer could be driving through at any time, you probably wouldn’t break into someone’s car,” Adams said.
At the time of our interview, Adams had not discussed his concerns with Chief Thomas.
According to Thomas, the department is considered at full staff with sixty-six officers. Several of the vacated positions have already been filled, leaving roughly three empty spots that they are trying to currently fill.
“We encourage people to get out on the greenway,” Thomas said. “This is an anomaly. We don’t know how this happened, especially in broad daylight. We are fortunate that we have cameras there and picked up some information and our investigation unit worked it real hard. It’s going to come to a conclusion soon.”
On Feb. 2, an armed robbery occurred on the Greenway in broad daylight. North Augusta police, in conjunction with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest on Thursday. The man arrested is being held in Richmond County awaiting extradition to South Carolina.
Joe Edge is the Publisher for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joe.edge@theaugustapress.com
[adrotate banner=”36″]
