Police officers and firefighters sometimes see people only during difficult circumstances, but many departments across South Carolina are working to have more positive interactions with the residents they serve.
These interactions include weeks-long citizens academies that provide a glimpse into the inner workings of the local police department, training sessions, free naloxone to treat opioid overdoses and helping new parents properly install child safety seats.
“We’re here to help people and that’s why we’re doing these things,” said Don Calabrese, public information officer for the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
Mount Pleasant Police Chief Mark Arnold speaks at a domestic violence awareness
event in October 2021. Photo: Town of Mount Pleasant.
For the Mount Pleasant Police Department, one of its oldest community programs is its Citizen Police Academy.
Operating since 1998, the program has graduated 37 classes of 20 students each, who meet for two hours a week for 10 weeks. The participants in that program hear from every part of the department, from SWAT and K-9 demonstrations to traffic patrol, crime analysis and detectives.
“It lets us open our doors and let people into our world,” Calabrese said. “Everybody gets to see what we do day in and day out, then we have 20 new ambassadors to help spread our message.”
Calabrese said a key element of the program is having each class choose one member to sum up the experience and speak for the class. One recent class spokesman said the group was most impressed by how dedicated officers are to their jobs.
“He said he knew the officers cared about their job, but he was pleasantly surprised at the passion each officer or staff member brought to their position,” Calabrese said. “He said that they could tell officers were there for a reason and that was comforting for him as a citizen.”
In addition to the academy, the town partners with local support groups for a domestic violence awareness event to connect people with resources available for families in crisis.
The town also has two programs to take on the opioid epidemic — training in the use of NARCAN, a brand name for the medicine naloxone, which rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, and a drug take-back program to dispose of unused prescription drugs.
“Those kinds of things affect all sorts of households,” Calabrese said. “These are people who may have no experience with the police, but with this training, they could save a life in their own home.”
Personal inspiration
For North Charleston Police Captain Matt Hughes, his department’s program to combat substance use disorder — Paths to Recovery, which includes a mental health component — is very personal.
“My older sister suffered from it, and she passed away several years back from an overdose. That’s the source of my inspiration for doing this. Seeing what this does to human beings like me and you, it’s heartbreaking,” said Hughes, adding that he has administered NARCAN to people who have overdosed at least six times while he was on duty.
“Part of what got me interested may have been a personal experience, but at the end of the day, it’s seeing firsthand what substance abuse is doing to people and knowing that there’s help right there,” he said.
North Charleston’s baby shower event had the department distributing supplies
to new and expectant mothers. Photo: City of North Charleston.
North Charleston’s program includes providing free NARCAN and training on how to use it. The Paths to Recovery program also offers an online guide to community resources to support those dealing with substance use disorder.
“It’s been said 100 times, we’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem,” said Francie Austin, the deputy city attorney who also works with the Paths to Recovery program. “We can arrest everyone with the pills and it’s not going to solve anything unless we can get education and awareness out in the public … We’re just trying to keep everybody’s head above water.”
Austin said the program has shown it works because the number of overdoses — both fatal and nonfatal — has dropped from more than a dozen each week to less than five a week.
The North Charleston Police Department, which had to put its 7-year-old citizens academy on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, has other community outreach efforts, including recently hosting a “baby shower” for first-time moms and dads to help them develop child-care skills. The event, called “Baby Changes Everything,” was set up as a drive-through with a presentation projected onto a big screen and door prizes that included cribs, diaper bags and strollers.
‘Always here to help’
Helping young families properly install child-safety seats in their cars is a big part of the Sumter Fire Department’s community outreach efforts.
“We are fire and rescue,” said Lt. Selena Ruth Smith. “We do go to accidents as well as fires, and we want to prevent injuries. Our most precious cargo is in those car seats, and we want them in the right car seat and the right-facing seat.”
Smith said it has been easy to train firefighters to be car seat technicians.
“It’s another part of our relation to the community,” she said.
Lt. Selena Ruth Smith of the Sumter Fire Department installs a child safety seat.
Photos: City of Sumter.
Fire department staff are also experts at installing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and educating the public on fire safety.
“The fire department is always here to help,” said Division Chief Joey Duggan. “If the community needs something, people can give us a call and we will see if we can do something.”
The education starts early with young people in elementary school, hands-on training for how to crawl along the floor to avoid smoke and learning to designate a safe place outside the home to meet family if there is a fire.
“We continue to educate them through middle school, through high school and on job sites and in businesses,” Duggan said. “We reinforce the message by repeating it.”
Captain Tarrance Dupree is in charge of the department’s smoke detector program, installing 10-year lithium battery alarms that come from South Carolina State Fire and the Red Cross.
Sumter firefighters install smoke detectors.
Residents can request an evaluation of their needs, including carbon monoxide detectors and devices specifically for the hearing impaired.
While he is installing the detectors, Dupree makes sure to go over all the exit possibilities for residents in the home and other safety issues.
Some of the department’s safety initiatives have had to go digital because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that has offered a new way to reach residents with fun videos on social media outlets like Facebook.
“We know our message is getting out,” said Smith, who is the creative director behind the videos. “Our fire deaths have come down.”