PRESS RELEASE
South Carolina Office of the Governor
David M. Beasley - Governor
For Immediate Release: August 5, 1998
Contact: Gary Karr (803) 734-9840
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GOVERNOR ENDORSES SCHOOL SAFETY OFFICERS
(Lexington) – Governor David M. Beasley today endorsed a plan
to put resource officers in South Carolina schools that need them. The
Governor promised to put money in his executive budget for the resource
officer plan, announced yesterday by Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler.
“Schools have to be a safe haven for learning,” Governor Beasley
said. “I will make sure that the resource officer plan gets priority in
my next budget. I’d like to thank Bob Peeler for working hard with me to
make South Carolina schools safer.”
The Governor endorsed the resource officer plan at a luncheon
meeting with law enforcement officials in Lexington County.
The plan, which Lieutenant Governor Peeler dubbed the Safety
in Our Schools plan, would put a law enforcement officer in every middle,
junior and high school that wanted an officer.
Governor Beasley recently signed the 1998 Safe Schools Act, which
created resource officers and granted them the power to arrest those suspected
of crimes. Under that and previous legislation the Governor strongly supported,
students caught with guns face one-year explusions. Also, those who commit
crimes against school personnel get stiffer penalties.
At today’s meeting in Lexington, Governor Beasley thanked Midlands-area
law enforcement officers for working with him to reduce violent crime in
South Carolina. Since 1994, murders have dropped 14 percent and rape has
dropped nearly 11 percent, according to figures compiled by the State Law
Enforcement Division.
The Governor, working with the General Assembly, has consistently
advocated tough-on-crime policies, including two-strikes/three-strikes
legislation, truth-in-sentencing and the recently enacted bill that allows
for the continued confinement of sexually violent predators.