Open letter from Matt Smoak (candidate for Berkeley Co. Sheriff):
This year provides a pivotal opportunity for the residents of Berkeley County to make necessary changes in
leadership. On June 10, Berkeley County will have a primary election to select the final candidates for the November election. There are many current and challengers for many different seats within Berkeley County, including the Sheriff’s position. My name is Matt Smoak, and I am running for the position of Berkeley County Sheriff.
Here in Berkeley County, many of us have been dealing with the same frustrations: the lack of officers responding to calls and the feeling that no call for service is important. Many excuses are typically given, such as, “The Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have enough man-power,” or “We will get to it when we can,” (which then turns in to never).
I plan on implementing from the start a better community/sheriff’s office relationship. I understand how difficult this will be because for many years the community has felt that the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t care what is happening. That. Will. Stop. Community Oriented Policing, or (COPs), will help rebuild the “trust bridge” between the community and the Sheriff’s Office.
I want deputies to be interacting daily with their surrounding neighborhoods, finding out what issues each neighborhood is struggling with and how the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office can help alleviate those issues. I’ve had some concerned citizens mention that many of the supervisory officers are advising their subordinates to “not do anything” to “not be proactive”. Laziness, is NOT in my blood. If elected, I will bring back accountability to the department.
Most of the neighborhoods I’ve spoken with and visited shared the same issue – the utter lack of traffic enforcement. I’ve heard everything from, “The speeders are rampant in this neighborhood” to “People are running stop signs.” I will, from the start, encourage deputies to be more cognizant of the violators around them and start enforcing traffic laws. I will also relieve the SC Highway Patrol from working all collisions in Berkeley County, including fatalities. These efforts will do so much more for our county besides reduce collisions and reduce other traffic issues within the county. By conducting traffic enforcement and working collisions, it opens the door for many types of grant monies that are available, that can be utilized for more officers, equipment, training…you name it. This is one of the many facets of my plan to make Berkeley County a more well-rounded department.
I was asked probably one of the biggest questions regarding a huge topic in our county….the jail. “What are your plans on increasing the man-power for the jail and obtaining the funding to pay those correctional officers, without increasing taxes?” Let me tell you how excited I was to hear this great question! Yes, I agree; the budget for man-power allotment should have been included in the original proposal and for some reason, it seems it wasn’t. I do not consider myself a politician. To me, politicians try to sell too many broken promises. I consider myself a typical blue-collar guy that knows what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and the last thing I want is higher taxes!
So to answer the question about how I plan on finding the money for the correctional officers, it’s easy and the money is already here. Traffic Enforcement. Now before everyone starts screaming “Oh, you’re just wanting to turn our county into a speed trap. “NO!” Consider the major thoroughfares we have in this county, I-26, I-526, Hwy. 52, Hwy. 17A, Hwy. 176, Redbank Rd. and so on. Many of these roads are heavily traveled throughout the day and most have had some type of collision at least once a day. The fact remains, by enforcing traffic laws and doing more enforcement, the county will actually receive a percentage of the revenue from the State. I also believe it will help alleviate the feeling of “Where’s a police officer when you need one?” Having deputies being more visible also helps deter crime and future violations. If Berkeley County had been conducting just a fraction more of the traffic enforcement than they do now, I believe the jail could have been staffed years ago.
And finally, I also believe the manpower in whole needs to be evaluated. Restructuring of the deputies and their assignments needs to be addressed. Currently, specialized teams appear to be staffed first. I will make certain we have adequate staffing in patrol before allowing expansions of special teams.
I appreciate everyone that took the time to read this. The only way Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office will change is by your vote on June 10. I humbly ask for your support in making Berkeley County a “Safer County. Better Life.”
Matt Smoak, B.S., NREMT-Paramedic
www.mattsmoakforsheriff.com
(843)817-8810
(843)817-8810
(Note: Letters to the Editor do no represent endorsements from The Berkeley Observer)
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Mr. Smoak, you don’t speak for everyone in Berkeley County; you don’t speak for me and a great deal of my friends and neighbors about a lack of service from the Sheriff’s Office! “I’ve had some concerned citizens mention that many of the supervisory officers are advising their subordinates to ‘not do anything’ to ‘not be proactive’.” Interesting, and just how do these “concerned citizens” know that? You reckon the deputies are going around saying that? You must be terrible at testifying in court because you seem to thrive on hearsay evidence. “I will also relieve the SC Highway Patrol from working all collisions in Berkeley County, including fatalities.” You don’t mention how you will “relieve the SC Highway Patrol” at the expense of the citizens of Berkeley County. No one is trained to investigate wrecks like the SCHP and in the case of really bad wrecks, they are usually called in anyway. Why tie up patrol deputies with that additional burden when we’re so short-handed to begin with? And you would also have to train them in all the particular of traffic enforcement! And who’s going to pay for THAT, Mr. Smoak? You seem to be adding to the problem BEFORE you ever get into office! And your “plan” for paying for the jail is magnificent! Could be wrong but I’m not, the County gets a flat $25/ticket. An entry-level Corrections Officer starts at about $24,400/year, not including benefits and retirement. So to pay for one CO, they’d have to issue 976 tickets a year. That’s, what, 19,520 tickets a year to pay for 20 COs (which is about what is needed). You’re going to issue an additional 20,000 tickets in Berkeley County to pay for COs? I might as well be in jail myself! I must say, you are BRILLIANT, Mr. Smoak!!! You can check my figures because I called about the amount each County gets on a traffic ticket and I looked up the salary info on the County website. And finally … “Currently, specialized teams appear to be staffed first.” Do they? Me thinks you ASSUME too much, Mr. Smoaks. You spew out information without any facts to back them up, just like your opponent Mr. Adams.
P.S. Mr. Smoak, I forgot to add another kink to your “pay for the COs with traffic enforcement” plan. That $25/ticket that goes to the County, it goes into the General Fund, NOT directly to the Sheriff’s Office. So, you’d still have to beg for money from County Council to pay for the COs, EVEN THE MONEY YOU COLLECTED FROM YOUR TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT! And after looking more into it, the total cost for the COs including benefits is approximately $880,000. That would mean you would have to issue an additional 35,200 traffic tickets to pay for them AND ask County Council for those funds to pay for the COs. Got any more brilliant ideas? Maybe we could raffle off “Get Out of Jail Free” coupons . . .
Mr. Mann,
First off, I want to thank you for your very elaborate comment. I applaud someone that seems to may work for the current Berkeley County Sheriff’s office, or has previously worked there.
To answer and hit on some of your points; yes, I have actually spoken with current deputies that have stated to me that many deputies want to do more, and yes; in fact, they are being told to not do as much and not be as proactive as some of the deputies want to be. However, during this election year, I’m seeing more enforcement that I have ever seen within Berkeley County…why is that? Election year. I also have close friends within the department…many of which have disclosed to me that many times, deputies assigned to patrol sometimes work 3-4 deputies at night. I feel that number needs to be higher. I will increase deputies assigned to patrol so EVERY area has adequate coverage.
You mentioned ‘hearsay’…okay, hasn’t the US Supreme Court ruled that a police officer may utilize hearsay to help collaborate reasonable suspicion in determining whether or not criminal behavior is, has, or is about to happen. We in law enforcement use hearsay many times to help us gather the reasonable suspicion that then can help us articulate the probable cause we need to make arrests. By talking with some of the community and even current deputies, I was able to raise enough reasonable suspicion for me to believe that Berkeley County Sheriff’s office can benefit from improvements.
As for relieving SCHP from working collisions, here is what I have personally seen….I’ve driven home in my current department’s ‘marked’ patrol car, rolled up on many collisions and I have had different Berkeley County deputies respond as well. Some of these deputies have asked if I’m going to conduct the collision report (even though the State of SC says I’m okay to do so outside of my jurisdiction,) I just can’t issue court summons when not in my jurisdiction. Typically, my answer is ‘no’ and the responding deputy further states that BCSO doesn’t work collisions. Now that being said; these instances, (that I observed first-hand), witnessed the deputy wait from anywhere from 10-30 minutes awaiting SCHP to work the collision. In my opinion, if BCSO is so stretched thin and will not work collisions, why wait? I believe 10-30 minutes is more than enough time to fill out the TR-310 and have the collision scene reopened. Also, the last I checked….every single police officer and deputy that graduates from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy has a basic knowledge and training for filling out the TR-310. I agree that investigations of serious collisions including, but not limited to, serious injury and/ or death would need more training. And yes, that additional training would cost money….money that can be obtained by the use of grants that can be generated from actually conducting more traffic enforcement.
Just for a little statistics, which I obtained from the SCHP Troop 6…..
SCHP Collision Stats 2010
Total collisions worked in Berkeley….
28 Fatal, 950 Injury, 2336 Property, 3314 Total
Of those,
SC Highway Patrol (SCHP) worked 1949
Berkeley County Sheriffs Office (BCSO) worked 9
Goose Creek Police Dept. (GCPD) worked 743
Moncks Corner (MCPD) worked 242
Hanahan (HPD) worked 109
Charleston Police Dept. (CPD)- (Daniel Isl. only) worked 123
Summerville (SPD) worked 122
Bonneau worked 9
St. Stephens worked 6
Jamestown worked 2
2011…..
32 Fatal, 986 Injury, 2035 Property, 3053 total
SCHP- worked 1823
BCSO- worked 10
GCPD- worked 723
MCPD- worked 220
HPD- worked 97
CPD-worked 82
SPD- worked 58
St. Stephens- worked 9
Bonneau- worked 7
2012….
30 Fatal, 1079 injury, 2195 property, 3304 total
SCHP- worked 1978
BCSO- worked 14
GCPD- worked 711
MCPD- worked 269
HPD- worked 126
CPD- worked 84
SPD- worked 72
St. Stephens- worked 12
Bonneau- worked 6
2013 (Not yet final)
23 Fatal, 1042 injury, 2361 property, 3426 total
SCHP- worked 1944
BCSO- worked 8
GCPD- worked 800
MCPD- worked 277
HPD- worked 122
CPD- worked 50
SPD- worked 187
St. Stephens- worked 12
Bonneau- worked 7
I’m even throwing some statistics that I obtained though the SC Law Enforcement Network (LEN). These were from 2013 and I compared the total court summons issued between Berkeley and Charleston County.
Berkeley County Sheriffs Office (BCSO)
90 DUI arrests
105 Seatbelt
25 Child Restraints
424 Driving Under Suspension (DUS)
68 Uninsured Motor Vehicle
837 Speeding
48 Reckless Driving
1597 Total Citations
Charleston County Sheriff Office (CCSO)
296 DUI arrests
1510 Seatbelt
161 Child Restraints
1740 DUS
924 Uninsured Motor Vehicle
8237 Speeding
222 Reckless
14687 Total
I believe these numbers speak for themselves. It is obvious to me, as well as many of the other County residents (whom I’ve presented this info to) that our vastly growing county can always improve. I strongly believe that the fatal numbers and collision numbers are high and are going to continue increasing if Berkeley County does not improve the enforcement efforts. And to add another piece of information, many of the detention officer positions can also be paid for by grants.
I understand it will be a challenge, but I strongly believe that by providing ourselves, family, friends and visitors more overall enforcement; Berkeley County can become a ‘Safer County. Better Life.’
Matt Smoak
Candidate for Berkeley County Sheriff
Mr. Smoak will certainly have my vote. Regardless of who is sheriff, money to do certain things within the county will have to be begged for anyways. Mr. Smoak doesn’t appear to be a “good ole boy”. Sounds to me like he is the honest church going blue collar family man just wanting better for his family and county. Hopefully this will be a great race. I am sure the citizens are just looking for facts and not a bunch of false hope and broken promises. Best of luck to you Mr. Smoak!
Matt, it seems like a well thought-out plan! I applaud you! The citizens will certainly be better off with a man like you, with a plan like you have! It’s high time that the politics be taken out of the Sheriff’s department. Unfortunately, I o not live in Berkeley County and thus, cannot vote for you. We have a similar situation in Chesterfield County where I live, and your platform is STRIKINGLY resembling of one of the candidates her, who I WILL be voting for, and am promoting him every chance I get. I wish you well, Matt, and I pray for your success. Keep telling it like it is, beat the bushes and educate as many as you can! I am HONORED to call you friend! R. Allen Haynes
To the Citizens of Berkeley County:
I sat down with Officer Smoak at a meet and greet and he actually listened to my concerns and suggestions. I have campaigned for politicians in the past; but no one like Matt. He is honest and genuinely wants to make positive changes for our county.
So people, instead of complaining about police issues, get out and VOTE on June 10th, 2014.
Your vote does count!