Highway Patrol should be returned to its glory days

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums Guest column • Lt. Franklin Wallace: From Iraqi front, it's easy to see the good U.S. is doing (06/22/04) • Ed Leap: God delivered us from beaches,angels and a vacation (06/20/04) • David Thomas and Brad Wyche: Envisioning Upstate's future calls for focus on growth (06/19/04) • David M. Slade: We need to redress uninsured health costs (06/18/04) • Lynn B. Stovall: Simple lifestyle changes can save water and money (06/16/04) More details Steve Sulligan, of Travelers Rest, was a state trooper with South Carolina Highway Patrol for 21 years. He retired from the Patrol in June 2003 and is now the co-owner of a small business, Blue Ridge Tours, Inc.

For a number of years, I was the official spokesman for the Highway Patrol, and I left recently after becoming eligible for an early incentive retirement plan, of which I was happy to take. I have seen the Highway Patrol go from its glory days of more than 1,200 troopers in the early 1980s to a depleted force of only about 600 troopers.

Even at retirement, I was proud to have been a state trooper and feel I served the state to the best of my ability. But the troopers serving today are overburdened with a extreme lack of manpower here in the Upstate. They also lack equipment to do the job to the best of their ability.

The troopers have not had a pay raise in at least three years. And when one does come, it's so small that a routine health insurance increase takes it away.

Those troopers on patrol are being forced to drive patrol cars that have in excess of 125,00 miles. That makes chasing a fleeing felon or drunk driver a risky endeavor for the trooper to undertake.

The cars are constantly breaking down, causing troopers to lose valuable patrol time because they have to find a dilapidated spare car. Back in 1984, we had a total of 54 troopers and supervisers in Greenville County. Now sadly, there are only about 35.

Look at the growth the county has had in 20 years, and yet Highway Patrol staffing has gone backward and the work load has tripled.

If on a busy day you are involved in a car accident and a trooper responds to you in under a hour, you should feel lucky. In most cases, the wait is longer.

Where should the blame be focused? Our patrol command staff has tried to do the best with what state legislators have given, which has been little.

Therefore, pressure needs to be put on lawmakers by the citizens of this state who have a right to have a fully staffed Highway Patrol. They deserve an adequate force of troopers properly equipped to do their job safely and effectively.

It's sad to note that even the smallest of sheriff's departments in the state have laptop computers in their cars, but the Highway Patrol does not.

The Highway Patrol cannot even recruit good qualified officers from other agencies because the deputies or city officers see the dilemma going on in the Patrol and don't want to join.

In years past, the Highway Patrol was the premier police agency to join in South Carolina. But that luster has faded away to budget cuts and political agendas. The taxpayers of this state deserve more from their tax dollar. Sadly, they are not getting it when the department lacks basic resources.

No longer can a trooper be proactive in fighting crime and dangerous driving because all he or she does now is respond from wreck to wreck on day shift. During that time, only four troopers on an average are working in Greenville.

I am proud to have served in the Highway Patrol for more than 20 years, but I would like to see my brother troopers, who I have left behind in retirement, have the chance to again be a part of an elite agency like the Highway Patrol was long ago.

We need the help of our citizens to make it that way again by way of reminding your legislators that the Highway Patrol wants its shine to return.