A prefiled bill would give SLED the opportunity to investigate all officer-involved shootings in South Carolina.
State Senator Gerald Malloy of Hartsville presented this bill back in August of 2015 after the Michael Brown shooting. The bill would give SLED exclusive jurisdiction and authority in the investigation of every officer-involved shooting or discharge of a weapon while in the line of duty in South Carolina.
“I do not feel like there would be hardly any hiccups on this legislation. I think this is something that the people have wanted for a while. I realized there’s an interest in Florence now because of the situation there,” said Senator Gerald Malloy.
Back on October 3rd, Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone called Richland County to investigate the deadly shooting at the Vintage Place neighborhood because currently by law SLED does not have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over officer-involved shootings.
Malloy said this bill was filled to make sure every county is on the same page.
“Had this legislation passed in 2015 whenever we had first filed it, then the certainty on how you handle an investigation from that point in time on would’ve been certain to the public. So no one can cast a doubt on whether or not they’re doing something that is right or wrong,” said Malloy.
According to the bill, if the officer is employed by SLED, the Sheriff of the county where the shooting happened would be required to investigate or in the event that it included both an employee by SLED and the Sheriff, the solicitor would defer the investigation to a law enforcement agency.
“Basically we wanted to put some uniformity as it related to officer-involved shootings and it gives a process of what happens,” said Malloy.
Senator Malloy is expected to go back to Columbia to present this prefiled bill. Stay with WBTW for updates on this story.
