MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Horry County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that the South Carolina Sheriffs’ Association selected Sheriff Phillip E. Thompson as the Association’s 2017 Sheriff of the Year.
Sheriff Thompson was nominated by multiple Sheriffs for the award this year. In a combined letter, four different leaders said Sheriff Thompson’s “commitment to serving others and his innovative approach to law enforcement makes him uniquely qualified to be honored as our Sheriff of the Year.”
Sheriff Thompson is a 38-year law enforcement veteran and gained his experience with both the Myrtle Beach and Horry County Police Departments before being elected Sheriff of Horry County in 2001. Since his election, Thompson has been an advocate for the Sheriffs’ Association and works tirelessly to promote the Association in a positive light across the state and to mentor new sheriffs.
Sheriff Thompson was involved in the creation of the only in-house drug treatment program for inmates in South Carolina. The program is a therapeutic community program that addresses addiction and criminogenic thinking processes over an intensive three phase program that lasts up to two years in the detention center and two more years in halfway houses. The program is highly successful and touts an average 70 percent success rate.
The success of the program prompted the South Carolina Department of Corrections Youthful Offenders Intensive Supervision Services to partner with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office as a reentry program for youth offenders. As a result of the three year partnership, Sheriff Thompson was awarded the Young Offender Parole and Reentry Services Judge Bill Byars Community Partner Award in Law Enforcement by Governor Nikki Haley in 2016.
The Sheriffs’ Association’s Sheriff of the Year Award was presented to Sheriff Thompson at the Association’s Annual Conference in Myrtle Beach Monday night. In celebration of the award, Moseley Architects will present Sheriff Thompson with a check for $1,000 for the Horry County Sheriffs’ Office.
The video below was posted on the Horry County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday praising Sheriff Thompson’s efforts in the area.
Information above is from a submitted press release.
