In June the Columbia City Council approached Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott about the possibility of managing both the Richland County Sheriff ’s Department and the Columbia Police Department, following the firing of former Police Chief Tandy Carter. Sheriff Lott agreed that he would be interested.

On Thursday August 26, Sheriff Lott spoke to residents at the Columbia Council Neighborhood meeting at 3907 Ensor Avenue. While Sheriff Lott did talk to the crowd, he declined to comment on the proposal from the City Council.

“I don’t think it’s my place to come here and sell you on what the city of Columbia is proposing.”

Instead, he talked about what he has been able to accomplish in his 14 years as Richland County Sheriff.

When he began as Sheriff, Lott says he wanted to place emphasis on neighborhood organizations in Richland County. Fourteen years ago there were only 10 neighborhood organizations; now there are 375 organizations.

Lott says at every neighborhood organization meeting there are at least two officers in attendance. One officer is a CAT deputy or Community Action Team Deputy. His responsibilities are to give the crime statistics to the different communities and listen to their concerns. The second officer is the regional captain for the area. His job is to find out what is happening in the communities.

While developing a strong bond with the neighborhood organizations, one thing has become clear to Sheriff Lott. The neighborhoods that are more active don’t have the issues the neighborhoods that aren’t as active have. Another advantage is having the contact information of neighborhood presidents as well as meeting times for the neighborhood associations on the Sheriff’s Department Website. Sheriff Lott says that having the information on the website helps when new businesses or residents move into Richland County.

Sheriff Lott has also been able to establish specialized units such as a drug suppression unit, an idea that Sheriff Lott got from the Philadelphia Police Department a few years ago. After he tweaked the idea some, he was able to have a unit that focuses solely on issues relating to drugs.

The gang unit is made up of six full time people whose responsibility is to enforce and educate residents on gangs. They educate young people about the dangers of gangs and how to stay away from them, while they educate adults on the signs of gangs.

Along with the specialized units, Lott has created diversionary programs aimed at keeping youth out of the criminal justice system. One program is a Youth Arbitration Program. Rather than facing jail time, the youths in question have to complete a punishment such as community service in order to avoid having the crime on their record.

Another program is the R.E.A.D.Y. program (Richland County Educating And Deterring Youth) that has evolved from taking troubled youth on a tour of a jail to actually spending a night behind bars. The youth arrive at 4 p.m. on Friday and are released on Saturday morning. During their time in the program, the youth are dressed in a normal jail uniform and are spoken to every hour by police officers or inmates who have made bad choices. Lott says no one who has gone through the R.E.A.D.Y. program has ever been arrested. Following release, the sheriff ’s department conducts a follow–up for a year.

“Our goal isn’t to lock people up; it’s to prevent crime,” Lott says.

Along with the many programs, Lott has also created a Citizen’s Advisory Council, a group of citizens who meet quarterly and look into the policies and complaints at the Sheriff’s office and give the citizens of the county a voice.

Following Sheriff Lott’s review of his accomplishments, he answered questions from the residents. Among their concerns were how Sheriff Lott is going to keep the police officer’s moral up and the lines of communication open. Lott answered by saying he has a system already in place where every region has a representative who meets with the sheriff once a month. During this meeting, the representatives talk about every issue in their region. Once the issues are addressed, answers are given just days after the meeting.

Sheriff Lott mentioned that in March of 1997 he signed an agreement with Columbia, Forest Acres, and Irmo Police Departments that they have county wide jurisdiction: an agreement that Lott claims is still in effect to this day.

This is the fourth time in 14 years the Columbia City Council has approached the sheriff to ask for his help with the Columbia Police Department. As recently as last summer, a draft of a contract was written up and sent to the city council.

Lott claims that the decision for this proposal still remains with the city council. Dr. Belinda Gergel, a city council representative from District 3, says that many different factors have happened to slow the talks between the council and Sheriff Lott. For one, the current city council has not met as a complete body so far this year; however, she assures the council will discuss this matter at their meeting on September 2. Also, the council wants to hear from the public. While a specific timetable has not been released regarding a decision, Dr. Gergel feels that a decision should be made by the middle of September.

No matter what happens with the City of Columbia and Sheriff Lott, he wants the residents to know one thing.

“Regardless of what happens I’m still your sheriff.”