CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County Police Chief Joseph Hill says after hosting several town hall meetings, the biggest complaint is that the county has a problem with traffic control.

Right now, the police department faces 15 vacancies. Hill says at times, that means there aren’t enough officers out on the streets.

Chief Hill says he’s implementing a Community Outreach Program, or COT Team, where they plan to have officers placed in crime-ridden areas all over the county.

He says that team will help with traffic enforcement, but that’s just one of the issues he’s looking to tackle.

“We have to keep pace of the growth of the community. So, on any given day, we have four to five officers patrolling the huge sectors, a lot of real estate. We’re really worried about officer safety,” said Hill.

News13 has told you Horry County Council is working to bring on nine new patrolmen, and while that is in the works, Hill says he’s implementing new COT teams where officers are placed in strategic hotspot locations to keep you and law enforcement safe.

“What I mean by hotspot policing, they will go in communities that are problematic and identify leadership, work with that communities’ leaders to solve problems, building resiliency in these communities and also enforce the law,” said Hill.

Hill says the mission of the COT Team is to better handle traffic enforcement, community engagement, problem solving and hotspot policing.

Hill says having those officers in hotspots means better reaction time when every second counts.

“What happens if an officer gets in trouble at two in the morning and their quickest response from a backup officer is ten minutes away? Ten minutes doesn’t seem like a lot to a lot of people, but when you’re in a fight for your life, three minutes means a whole lot. It’s the difference between life and death,” said Hill.

The officers that will be part of the COT Team were already part of the department. Hill says they’re going through training right now.

Now, he says there are only three officers, but he hopes as they hire more people, more officers will be able to join that team.