Bauer incident challenges Patrol’s professionalism

AS EGREGIOUS AS Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s behavior was during his 101-mph joyride down I-77, the Highway Patrol must not escape blame.

Officials say the trooper who pulled over Mr. Bauer thought he was a law enforcement officer, and you can certainly understand why: The speeder was driving a state-owned black Ford Crown Victoria; he addressed the trooper as though he were a subordinate, demanding of him “Did you not hear me on the (police) radio?” and he identified himself by the official-sounding (but officially meaningless) “SC2” rather than by name, as the trooper had asked.

But assume that Mr. Bauer did a great impersonation of a police officer. Are police — in unmarked cars, at that — free to drive at any speed they like, without so much as an explanation?

It apparently didn’t even occur to the trooper that he should ask for identification from “SC2.” This raises deeply troubling questions about the culture of the S.C. Highway Patrol, which has a notorious history as handmaiden to the state’s political class.

It wasn’t that long ago that troopers were routinely called on to ferry legislators, and even highway commissioners, around the state on official or unofficial business. It wasn’t that long ago that a Highway Patrol commander was forced out after he got caught intervening to protect the head of the state’s FBI office from a DUI charge. Or that his successor was forced out amid allegations of mishandling an internal investigation, soliciting liquor from an Alcoholic Beverage Control commissioner and visiting a topless bar in a patrol car.

The culture problem was supposed to have changed after Red-gate and Operation Lost Trust and government restructuring, which granted the agency extraordinary insulation from politics — or protection from the accountability that politics also can bring. Those changes weren’t just for the benefit of the public; they also were to protect the integrity and honor of the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our highways — and our state — safe.

We’re encouraged by Public Safety Director James Schweitzer’s response to the “SC2” incident and an earlier traffic stop that ended with a friendly handshake and warning. He sent a memo to the patrol providing what he called “unambiguous direction” to clear up “the mistaken impression that preferential enforcement treatment at traffic stops can be given based on the identity of the driver rather than the circumstances surrounding the stop.”

But the memo only discussed the need to disregard a driver’s status as “a public official or prominent individual.” It didn’t specifically include “law enforcement officer” on the list. Perhaps that is implied, but implication is not enough in an agency with the history our patrol has — particularly when today’s leaders had to work their way up through the ranks of the old regime.

The standard that Mr. Schweitzer should demand is this: Any trooper must know to a moral certainty that he can ticket the Highway Patrol commander — or the head of the Department of Public Safety, or the governor, or the chairman of the House or Senate budget committee or anyone else — without fear of retribution. And he must know that his career will end if he bases his decisions on “who” rather than “what.”

We had hoped the patrol was well on its way toward meeting that standard of professionalism and fairness. Recent actions suggest otherwise, and that means it has much work to do to regain the public’s full trust.