South Carolina is poised to revive a screening program aimed at ensuring police applicants have the mental stability necessary to carry a badge and gun.

State lawmakers on Tuesday approved $500,000 to restore the psychological screening program at the state Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia.

The program fell victim to state budget cuts in 2003, leaving some cash-strapped departments unable to pay for the mental evaluations. House leaders pushed to revive the program this year after the problem was highlighted in The Post and Courier series "Tarnished Badges."

"The psychological testing is critically important," said state Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, who heads the House Ways and Means Committee. "We need to make sure we weed out bad apples."

Before its demise, the screening program helped flag nearly one-third of police applicants who lacked the mental stability for the profession.

House leaders amended their budget last month to include money for the screenings, but the Senate didn't follow suit, jeopardizing the program. Lawmakers from both chambers opted to restore the funding during a marathon budget session this week.

The funding seems assured, barring a veto by Gov. Mark Sanford, who included $1.5 million in his proposed budget to refurbish the academy's aging campus. Legislators also approved that money. Earlier, Sanford called on his Cabinet to find ways to keep troubled cops out of the profession.

Academy Director William Neill said his staff has begun laying the groundwork to resume the screenings. He predicted the program could be up and running in three to four months.

Neill predicted the initiative could boost efforts to make psychological testing a requirement for all prospective law enforcement officers in South Carolina.

"This will help us tremendously," he said. Currently, police departments and sheriff's offices are not required to do the tests. But the academy's program will make it far cheaper.

While most of the state's larger law enforcement agencies, including the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and the North Charleston Police Department, pay for screenings out of their own budgets, many smaller departments relied on the academy to foot most of the bill. The same testing that the state offered for $25 to $35 can cost $200 or more on the open market.

Fewer than 100 of the state's 280 police agencies administered the tests in their application process, a 2001 academy survey found.

The academy likely will charge a nominal fee for the screenings to help fund the program beyond the one year guaranteed by the Legislature, Neill said.

Harrell, however, said lawmakers consider the program vital and plan to find money to keep it running.

"A police officer has to be someone that an individual citizen can instantly trust," he said. "(The screenings are) very clearly on the radar screen for the next several years."