This week | Key issues before legislative committees this week
Filed Under Caucus, McConnell, Top News
The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus will meet again to discuss the future of Jim Schweitzer, director of the Department of Public Safety.
Caucus members will meet with Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell Tuesday — with hopes of meeting with Gov. Mark Sanford — to talk about racial profiling and how officers within the state’s Highway Patrol are disciplined.
The caucus has stalled the second-term confirmation of Schweitzer until these issues can be resolved.
Caucus members met with Schweitzer last week to discuss an incident in which an African-American woman was handcuffed to the bumper of a Highway Patrol car during a traffic stop.
Schweitzer told an S.C. media outlet that what happened to the woman was wrong and was not condoned by the Department of Public Safety. The arresting officer was suspended without pay, he said.
The caucus said the arresting officer received a 12-hour suspension of pay as punishment.
Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland and chairman of the Black Caucus, said Schweitzer has displayed a “cavalier” attitude about their complaints and shown “no sense of urgency” over their concerns in conversations with them.
Howard said the caucus wants additional training for Highway Patrol officers, including anger management classes. They also want Schweitzer to outline a plan to prevent such incidents in the future.
In a written statement, caucus members also said Schweitzer “displays too much confidence and trust in his deputy director, Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark.”
Howard said conduct within the department has been so egregious that “the caucus is willing to invest in a national campaign (to publicize the allegations) if we don’t some level of satisfaction.”
The State Newspaper
Gina Smith and Roddie Burris
2/24/2008
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