The state, acting at the behest of the Department of Public Safety, is about to launch an investigation of five counties and a city to find out what happened to money intended to keep troubled cops from wearing badges.

Fines collected by the state's courts help pay for operations of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, which tracks and trains the state's 14,000 police officers.

But those collections have been down in recent years, particularly in the courts in question. The Jasper County court, for example, didn't send the state a dime for the first seven months of this fiscal year.

The Department of Public Safety, joined by the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, asked for audits of courts in Jasper, Allendale, Chesterfield, Lexington and Richland counties and the city of Florence.

The academy depends entirely on the money generated by traffic tickets and court fees.

Some state leaders say the funding system is unpredictable, outmoded and vulnerable to tinkering: Ticket-fixing, compassionate judges, miscalculations by court clerks and fewer cops writing citations all have cut into what for years was a bountiful stream of cash pouring into state coffers, accounting for an estimated $50 million annually. In the past two years alone, that pot of money shrank by about $2 million.

The shortfall has forced the academy to cut staff and programs. Its budget is down nearly $1.5 million in just the past four years. A recent Post and Courier series, "Tarnished Badges," revealed how these cutbacks have undercut the academy's efforts to keep troubled cops out of the profession.Now, the academy and other agencies that rely on this money are fighting back by calling for the state audits. The state auditor says it could take months to determine whether the courts are pocketing more than their fair share of ticket revenues.

Court officials in the five counties and in Florence deny hoarding money. They say there is simply less of it coming in. They attribute the decrease to everything from less crime to lenient judges and fewer cops writing tickets.

Chesterfield County Clerk of Court Faye Sellers said she welcomes the audit. The state has been questioning her county's contributions for at least two years, and she wants the issue resolved.

"If I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to get it corrected," she said. "I just don't think we're taking in that much."

Chesterfield County General Sessions Court turned over no ticket revenues to the state in the past fiscal year. Seven months into this fiscal year, the county turned over $764.50, according to state records.

While this may seem like a pittance compared to the state's proposed $5.8 billion budget, even relatively small contributions can have a big impact at the academy.

For example, $764 could cover the cost of giving basic psychological evaluations to 22 would-be police officers.

The academy disbanded its psychological screening unit two years ago in response to funding shortfalls, even though the service found that about 30 percent of police applicants it reviewed weren't fit to carry badges and guns.

In the wake of the newspaper's series, state lawmakers found money in the state budget to revive the screening unit for one year. But that money will do nothing to repair the academy's aging training campus or modernize its antiquated records system.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, recently toured the academy's facilities. She was appalled at the rundown condition of the grounds.

"Historically, they have been underfunded. The condition of that academy is deplorable," she said.

Public Safety Director James Schweitzer, whose agency oversees the academy, said these and other problems won't be solved until someone comes up with a more reliable way to pay for the academy.

"We have to come up with a solution," he said.

A GOLD RUSH

It sounded like a great idea at the time: Make lawbreakers foot the bill for training the cop who arrested them or wrote their traffic ticket.

Lawmakers embraced the plan when it was created in the early 1970s because it didn't burden taxpayers.

State Auditor Thomas Wagner said recently that it was only a matter of time before the state's economy took a nosedive and carried the court money down with it.

"The whole crux of this problem is that the people who passed this overestimated how much money was going to come in," Wagner said.

"They thought the heavens were going to open up and spew forth gold."

When the fines started drying up a few years ago, the state agencies that rely on the money suspected that cities and counties were not giving the state its fair share.

Random audits by various state agencies over the years found mistakes and miscalculations by court clerks and treasurers, but no evidence of fraud.

However, until this year, the state auditor's office had no money to do intensive, targeted investigations.

"If there is nobody out there checking, there is the ability for someone to get lax," said Don Royal, chief financial officer for the public safety department.

Wagner suspects the real culprit is a convoluted collection system in which the rules change almost yearly. "I believe there is no widespread misreporting. It's just nickel-and-dime stuff," he said.

Some blame the decline in revenues on a shortage of law enforcement officers on the road writing tickets. Budget cuts, new security duties in the wake of 9/11 and vacancies created by military deployments for the war in Iraq have left many police departments with fewer officers on patrol.

For example, state trooper ranks have dropped 18 percent from 961 in 2000 to 788 this year, according to the governor's office.

Even when traffic tickets are issued, the system remains dependent on police and court officials who, with the scribble of a pen, can lower or eliminate a fine.

Charleston County Magistrate David Coker said additional fees that courts are required to add to ticket fines have gotten out of hand. Judges have no choice but to give people a break when they can, he said.

"We have to use some discretion and compassion because the fees are so much higher," Coker said.

With tacked-on fees and assessments, a $100 speeding ticket swells to $232.50.

Wagner said the penalties have reached the point of diminishing returns because judges are increasingly unwilling to impose fines that the average person can't afford.

"Some guy in a junker who works at McDonald's, how is he going to pay that?" Wagner asked.

THE MONEY HUNT

If the state audits fail to shake loose more money for the academy, other ongoing efforts might.

Public safety officials have begged legislators for the past two years to add a $1 surcharge to the automobile registration fee, a plan that could supplement the academy's budget by as much as $2 million a year.

Both times, House budget writers rejected the idea, Royal said.

Gov. Mark Sanford's office also is reluctant to embrace any change that would place an additional burden on taxpayers. But Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said the governor is sympathetic to the academy's needs and has included about $1.5 million in his proposed budget this year to pay for long overdue building upgrades and repairs at the academy.

The money would be the first time in the agency's 35-year history that anyone can recall funding from outside the court revenue system.

Academy director William Neill said the attention is welcome, but the academy still needs a more stable source of income.

"The problem is," Neill said, "when the state already has funding issues, the timing of this is not good."

WHERE'S THE MONEY?

The State Auditor's Office has been asked to investigate whether seven courts in five counties and one city in South Carolina are improperly withholding traffic ticket revenue from the state. As of Jan. 26, seven months into the current fiscal year:

-- Allendale County General Sessions Court contributed $106.62, which is about 3.3 percent of its contribution last year.

-- Allendale County Magistrates Court sent $7,768.73, about 11.3 percent of its previous year's total.

-- Chesterfield County General Sessions Court gave the state $764.50, continuing a steady decline that began in 1998.

-- Jasper County General Sessions Court sent the state nothing. Just eight years ago, that same court contributed $162,396.

-- Richland County General Sessions Court provided $56,059.83, just 37 percent of the previous year's total.

-- Lexington Magistrates Court last year gave the state $857,421.18, about 29 percent less money than the previous year.

-- Florence Municipal Court last year gave the state $465,524.35, about 34 percent less than the previous year.

Source: South Carolina Treasurer's Office