The Colleton County NAACP Branch #5507 held the Colleton County United for Safety Community Meeting on Monday June 23rd at the Colleton Civic Center.
The meeting was moderated by NAACP President Edward Williams, attended by residents, Colleton County Council Members, Mayor Bill Young, and City Council Members. The two-hour meeting that included a timekeeper saw an update from Colleton County Sheriff Buddy Hill. Hill reported that his department has seen just over 18,600 service calls with over 300 of those calls involved shootings, five of those being homicides.
Wade Marvin, Police Chief of Walterboro, reported his department was also very active in enforcing the City of Walterboro’s plan to curb the violence with increased patrols, a campaign to hire more officers through higher salaries and incentives. The city has also made efforts to implement the City of Walterboro’s 12 Step Plan to stop the violence. The 12-Step Plan includes more enforcement in high-activity areas, boosting recruitment, and investing in technology equipment.
The Colleton County School District Safety and Security Coordinator, Christopher Glover, addressed the new cell phone restrictions coming for the new school year. To comply with the state cellphone ban in the public schools, the district will begin using the Yondr cell phone pouches to restrict access to phones during school hours. This restriction should lower occurrences of school fight videos and cyberbullying in the district. Glover added that discipline in middle schools was reduced by 60% from last year and the high school saw a 25% reduction in disciplinary actions.
Numerous residents spoke at the event, given one minute to ask a question of the panel members on the dais. The Sheriff, Police Chief, SLED, and School District were able to answer a wide range of questions from concerned citizens.
Although they were not on the dais, Walterboro Mayor Bill Young and School Superintendent Jessica Williams also addressed the audience. County Council Chairman Scott Biering spoke to the crowd expressing County Council commitment to addressing violence in the community.
Leaders said this meeting was another step in building relationships with law enforcement to help reduce the pattern of violence in Walterboro and Colleton County.
