Sanford wants millions for police, prison issues

By Jim Davenport

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford says he'll ask the General Assembly for $77 million to repair prisons, put 100 new Highway Patrol troopers on the roads and track sex offenders.

Law enforcement suffered some of the toughest budget cuts after the 2001 recession, Sanford said during his monthly Cabinet meeting Wednesday.

More than a dozen uniformed police and correctional officers were seated behind the governor.

Sanford said the extra money for law enforcement in his $6.5 billion budget proposal will come from $49.7 million in surplus state cash and $27.7 million in annual spending increases for law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.

As the state's fiscal fortunes have improved, the General Assembly has put more money into those agencies, and it has shown dividends, like a decrease in highway deaths as more troopers have hit the roads, Sanford said.

In the 2008 fiscal year that begins July 1, Sanford wants $33.4 million more for the Department of Public Safety to hire 130 people, including the new troopers, as well as equipment and cars for them to do their jobs.

If the budget proposal passes, the S.C. Highway Patrol would have more troopers than ever before, Sanford said.

Sanford also wants:

$21.4 million for the Corrections Department to renovate facilities and hire 44 new correctional officers.

$14.2 million for the Department of Juvenile Justice to replace two dormitories and hire 36 officers.

$4.7 million for the State Law Enforcement Division to hire 20 officers, replace cars and buy lab and investigative equipment.

$3 million for the Probation and Parole Department and to implement a new law requiring satellite monitoring of sex offenders.

The Corrections Department had suffered some of the largest budget cuts, with prisons spending falling from $353 million to a low of $247 million, said Jon Ozmint, the agency's director.

"In the process, we've learned better ways to do things. We operate a lot more efficiently because we were forced to do it," Ozmint said.

SLED Chief Robert Stewart said Sanford's proposal would put more agents on the job than ever before.

"We're rapidly recovering from the cuts - faster than I ever thought we would," Stewart said.

"The money you're putting - investing - into this will come back tenfold," Stewart said.