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.