Bailey Bill Would Revert County Policing to Sheriff’s Department
By Paul Gable
A bill introduced into the S. C. House of Representatives this week by North Myrtle Beach Rep. William Bailey would abolish the Horry County Police Department and return all county law enforcement duties to the Sheriff’s Department, if passed.
This is not a new issue in Horry County, only the latest iteration evolving from the recent revelations in the case of the 2023 fatal shooting of Scott Spivey by North Myrtle Beach business owner Weldon Boyd and the initial handling of the case by Horry County police officers.
By the provisions of the 1895 Constitution of South Carolina, the elected County Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in each of the state’s 46 counties. However, through the years, the members of the General Assembly found a way around this provision by passing individual bills establishing police commissions, appointed by the respective county’s legislative delegation, to oversee policing in the county. These commissions established county police departments to assume many of the duties of the county’s Sheriff. At one time, as many as 19 counties in the state had police departments separate from the Sheriff’s Department. Today, only the Horry County Police Department remains.
Bailey’s proposed legislation, House Bill 4542, would revoke the provisions of Act 21 of 1959 at it pertains to the establishment of a police commission in the county, removing the current oversight of law enforcement duties from Horry County Government and returning it solely to the Sheriff’s Department.
When the HCPD was established in 1959, the county Sheriff’s Department was reduced to serving warrants, security at the courthouse and the handling of out of state extraditions. In 1959, HCPD had eight officers and a chief. Today a total of 445 personnel are included in the HCPD ranks with 383 of these being sworn officers. Of course, in 1959, Horry County had approximately 66,000 total residents, roughly the same number who reside just in the Carolina Forest area today.
With the advent of Home Rule in 1976, the duties of the Horry County Police Commission were taken over by Horry County Government. In the current Council Administrator form of local government used in Horry County, the County Administrator appoints the chief of the county police department, which is part of the county’s Public Safety Division. The Public Safety Committee of Horry County Council oversees the operations of the division.
In 1996, then Sheriff Teddy Henry successfully sued Horry County Government for the return of the operations of the county jail to the Sheriff’s Department. Henry next pushed for consolidation of the Horry County Police Department with the Sheriff’s Department. In 1998, a referendum was placed before the voters asking whether the two departments should be consolidated. Two-thirds of the voters in the county opted to keep HCPD separate from the Sheriff’s Department.
The issue of dual taxation hangs in the background of the consolidation issue. HCPD is funded from the county’s general fund tax, which is derived from the general county property tax and fees collected throughout the county. Residents of the incorporated towns and cities pay an additional municipal property tax, which in most cases, funds a municipal police department. A 2004 decision by a county magistrate judge effectively limited the policing activities of HCPD to the unincorporated areas of the county with some reciprocal assistance arrangements between HCPD and individual communities. This effectively means residents of the incorporated municipalities pay taxes to fund two police departments while only receiving service from one of those departments.
In 2016, there were discussions at the county level about again placing the question of consolidation of HCPD and the Sheriff’s Department before the voters. Ultimately, no referendum was placed on the ballot.
However, recent media coverage of allegations of misconduct by certain HCPD officers during the investigation of the shooting death of Scott Spivey have again placed HCPD in the spotlight.
Spivey’s sister, Jennifer Foley, addressed county council at its regular May 6, 2025 meeting, requesting council support in the reopening of the investigation into the fatal shooting of her brother. The decision about possible reopening of the criminal investigation into Spivey’s death will be made at the state level by some combination of the governor, attorney general and SLED,
Foley represents the estate of her brother in a wrongful death lawsuit against Boyd and a fellow passenger in his vehicle at the time of the fatal shooting. It is expected this lawsuit will continue to keep the case in the public limelight in the weeks and months to come. The question of reopening the criminal case will be hanging with it.
Now, the question of the continued existence of the HCPD as a law enforcement agency also rests in Columbia with the General Assembly with the filing of Bailey’s House Bill 4542 earlier this week.
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