HORRY COUNTY, SC- Horry County Police Chief Saundra Rhodes is asking Horry County Council to approve her request for four more detectives. Lt. Raul Denis with Horry County Police said they’ve had the same number of detectives since 2001.
According to Lt. Denis, the Violent Crimes Unit has been assigned over 230 cases this year, but the unit only has 10 detectives.
“Our needs continue to grow and our resources don’t grow with them,” said Denis.
Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus said the county is working with a tight budget.
“It’s obviously is a need, the whole question is where do we get the funding from,” said Lazarus.
Council recently returned from its Spring Budget Retreat. Anything that gets added to the budget is recurring, so Lazarus said it’s important for Council to look ahead.
“We’re already using fund reserves to balance our budget. We don’t need to be paying for new personnel out of our fund balance,” he said.
Lazarus told News 13 one of the biggest budget problems Horry County faces is fixed costs. Currently, the county pays its employees $11,000 in health costs alone, multiply that by 2, 200 employees.
However, Lt. Denis said it’s important to consider the public’s safety in the matter. He said the complexity of the cases has changed and a typical homicide investigation involves 3-6 detectives.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into a case like that and if the case drags out, it’s that much longer that it keeps the detectives from working the cases that they’re routinely assigned,” said Denis.
The cases pushed back, risk going unsolved.
“Time is important when you’re following up on criminal cases,” stated Denis.
Lazarus said the county is considering other options, such as making the police department its own enterprise fund, separate from the general fund.