Budget cuts are crippling South Carolina’s six top law enforcement agencies as hundreds of officers quit for better-paying jobs elsewhere.

As state law agencies shrink, South Carolina is becoming an increasingly friendly place for lawbreakers, including speeders, illegal truckers, reckless boaters, wildlife poachers, prisoners and ex-convicts on parole.

“The chances of getting caught for speeding in South Carolina may be among the lowest in the nation, given their low number of troopers,” said Tom Crosby, spokesman for AAA Carolinas.

“That’s accurate,” said Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark.

Added AAA’s Crosby, “When miles driven continue to increase, and law enforcement continues to decrease, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

The number of S.C. troopers has dropped to 812 today from 970 five years ago. Each year, the patrol loses more than 50 officers it can’t replace because state budget woes have forced the Legislature to cut money to all agencies. (It costs $4 million to train, equip and buy cars for 50 new troopers.)

Many police officers in the state’s six top law enforcement agencies are so underpaid that, after three years of layoffs and no raises, they are leaving in droves, agency heads say. The officers are finding better-paying, securer jobs elsewhere — often in local sheriffs’ departments or federal law agencies.

The Highway Patrol and the wildlife officers of the Department of Natural Resources — two agencies where the visibility of officers helps keep order on roads and natural areas — are especially hard-hit. But as summer starts — and millions take to the highways, beaches and lakes — the number of these officers is the lowest in years.

Meanwhile, state traffic deaths are 46 ahead of last year, up to 389. And, last year, drownings in rivers and lakes reached a five-year high of 33.

Also, post-9/11, most state law enforcement agencies are being required to take on additional duties with reduced staffs.

“We are maxed out,” said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart, adding further cuts would take his 340-agent department “below the basic” minimum for public safety.

However, Stewart said he doesn’t expect more cuts.

LEAVING THE HIGHWAY PATROL

The Highway Patrol’s Roark said many departing troopers are seeking better-paying jobs elsewhere. They join federal agencies, including the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, he said. Also, local police forces pay more than the Highway Patrol and offer yearly raises.

“We had one (trooper) join the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department,” Roark said with an air of disbelief.

Last year, he added, four troopers in Horry County left to join a police department in Las Vegas, where they could earn $45,000 a year. The starting pay for a South Carolina trooper is $24,586.

The exodus of state police officers to local police jobs is reversing a longtime trend. Once, local police officers joined state law agencies for better pay. Now, it’s the other way.

“The state agencies are losing, and we are gaining,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. In the past year, Lott has hired about a dozen state law officers — including SLED laboratory experts and Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services agents — in the past year.

“I never thought I would see this day,” said Lexington County Sheriff James Metts, who has hired 13 law officers from state departments in the past year.

“We’re getting the cream of the crop,” he said.

Many state police feel insecure working for the state, Metts said. In addition to no pay raises, there is job insecurity, created as state agencies terminate workers to avoid raising taxes.

Richland and Lexington counties offer substantially more in pay, benefits and job security than many state law agencies, Metts and Lott said.

“Most are looking for a more stable job environment and better benefits,” said Metts.

In Lexington County, the starting salary for law officers is $28,906 to $31,000 a year, depending on education and experience. In Richland County, the average starting pay is $25,510 to $28,749.

Most state law officers, except for SLED agents, start at less than $25,000.

The hardest-hit state law enforcement police are conservation officers, who work for the Department of Natural Resources. The number of DNR officers, who enforce, fish, game and wildlife regulations and boating safety, has dropped 31 percent, to 197, in the past five years.

The DNR officers patrol the state’s lakes, rivers and coastline, as well as other natural areas.

“We are doing more with less,” said DNR Capt. Harvin Brock.

For example, officers in DNR’s Region 3 in the Midlands patrol 12 counties, seven rivers — the Edisto, Saluda, Savannah, Broad, Wateree, Santee, and Congaree — and two lakes, Marion and Murray. On given summer weekends, these waterways have thousands of boaters.

Five years ago, the region had about 60 officers. Now, it has about 40.

An increased officer presence helps ensure people obey boating and outdoor regulations, Brock said. “It’s like seeing a patrol car. When you see that, you tighten up a bit.”

‘YOU CAN’T KEEP CUTTING’

Outsiders who work with state law enforcement agencies worry about state staff cuts.

“It’s getting to a dangerous level,” said Lott, whose force works with several key state law agencies. “You can’t keep cutting and cutting and expect us to have a safer state.”

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Sixth Circuit Solicitor John Justice, who has been prosecuting criminal cases in Lancaster, Fairfield and Chester counties for 26 years.

Justice said the troopers in his circuit have been cut in half — in both the time they spend on the road and in court — and that means the roads are more dangerous.

“There is a substantial number of people who obey the law only because they see troopers out there,” Justice said.

The prosecutor said the Legislature should spend more on law enforcement. “The Legislature has got to make public safety the moral equivalent of national defense,” he said.

But attempts to get more money for law enforcement haven’t gotten very far in the General Assembly. The state budget has been tight in recent years, and many lawmakers want to cut taxes instead of raising them to pay for law enforcement.

Gov. Mark Sanford, who was not available for an interview, is “concerned” about low law enforcement staffing, particularly in Corrections, a spokesman said Friday. In the wake of recent lean budget years, Sanford is exploring ways to increase efficiency in government, as well as changes to the tax structure that would stimulate the economy and bring in more revenue, the spokesman said.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said raising law enforcement salaries will be one of the House’s top priorities next year. He said indications are that the economy is recovering and more money will be available.

But the AAA’s Crosby said raising certain taxes offers a way to raise money for better law enforcement. “These are things that we have all come to expect for our tax dollars,” he said.

If South Carolina needs more money, it could add a few pennies to its gasoline tax for more troopers, he said. Recent gas hikes have shown people will pay more per gallon for gas, he said.

Each penny added to the gas and diesel fuel tax brings in about $30 million to the state treasury, according to the S.C. Department of Transportation. Currently, South Carolina has a 16-cent-a-gallon gas tax — one of the nation’s lowest.

But state Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, a Senate Finance Committee member, said the General Assembly “isn’t in the mood” to increase taxes after three years of recession.

Politics aside, the General Assembly’s unwillingness to pay more for law enforcement shocks many.

“I never thought I would see law enforcement and public safety being cut because of budget concerns,” said Metts, who has been a sheriff for almost 32 years. “There’s no price you can put on public safety.”