A proposed bill dealing with the handling of officer-involved shootings in South Carolina has now made it to the full South Carolina Senate.
News13’s Georgiaree Godfrey was at Tuesday’s senate committee meeting, where lawmakers talked about the proposal.
There were 43 officer-involved shootings in South Carolina last year and 42 of those were investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Currently, SLED investigates these incidents at the request of the agency involved.
However, Senator Gerald Malloy’s bill would change ‘request’ to ‘require’.
“Obviously just to promote some uniformity, give the citizens a blueprint as it relates to officer-involved shootings,” said Sen. Malloy (D- Darlington).
The original bill filed by Malloy required SLED to investigate deaths caused by law enforcement or in police custody. But, negotiations in subcommittee added two amendments.
The amendments would also require SLED to investigate the unnatural death of a law enforcement officer and when an officer is killed in the line of duty.
Opponents of the bill say local law enforcement should still be able to decide when it comes to who investigates these incidents.
“I tend to believe in home rule for lack of term and that local decision making is usually the best decision making,” said Sen. Thomas McElveen (D- Sumter).
The bill received enough votes on Tuesday and will now head to the senate floor.
Malloy 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.
Back on October 3rd, Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone called the Richland County Sheriff’s Department 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.
