CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) – Councilmembers and law enforcement gathered Thursday at the Horry County Government and Justice Center to lay out a road map toward what they hope will be a much safer Horry County.
On the Community Violence Subcommittee’s agenda: constructing a plan to identify what leads to violence in the county, as well as what other counties do to curb drugs and violence. The subcommittee began after leaders in the community were upset with the number of homicides in Horry County.
Of particular interest to the subcommittee is the way police interact with the the communities they serve, how police are trained to serve those communities, and how decisions are made regarding which officers are placed in which communities.
Over the next several months, the subcommittee plans to answer those and many other questions in an effort to lower the risk for violence in Horry County. The co-chairman of the committee says that while Horry County is a diverse place, he hopes Thursday’s meeting can bring all ideas to the table and work toward a better and safer community.
“We have from Aynor to the beach and from Surfside to North Myrtle Beach, but all of us on the board are from one of those communities,” said Jimmy Washington, co-chair. “With all of us working together we can try and curb some of the violence taking place in Horry County.”
The plan, which has seven parts altogether, will take most of the summer for the subcommittee to complete. It will present its plan to the full council sometime in September.
