Hartsville Safe Communities steering offenders away from crime
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
A cooperative effort between the Hartsville Police Department and community members is offering criminal offenders a path toward education, employment, and away from the cycle of crime and conviction.
Founded in 2016, the Hartsville Safe Communities (HSC) program selects offenders registered with SC Probation and Parole and provides them with guidance, counseling, career training, and job opportunities.
Hartsville Police Department Lt. Tenyonde Richardson
“We want to try and give them a different perspective, not just lock them up,” says Lt. Tenyonde Richardson of the HPD Community Outreach Division.
Inspired initially by the STAND program pioneered by the SC Attorney General’s Office and North Charleston Police Department, HPD modeled their intervention efforts after a successful program used since 2013 by the Aiken Department of Public Safety.
Richardson says candidates for the HSC program are selected by officers from Darlington County law enforcement agencies through a blind vetting process based solely on their criminal history. Candidates are not disqualified based on age, race, gender, or whether they’ve committed violent crimes.
Once approximately ten candidates have been identified and notified of their mandatory participation in the program, the offenders meet with representatives from the HSC Action Team to get the straight story on what’s expected of them.
“We let them know that we’re tired of the crimes they’ve been committing in the community, but also we’re trying to help them help themselves by providing different avenues to education, job placement, or job training so that they won’t go out and offend again,” Richardson says.
HSC can help these offenders to pursue their GED or high school diploma, take career training and certification courses, or pair them with employers willing to offer them a job.
Richardson notes that STAND and HSC-style diversion programs are a numbers game, since a small percentage of offenders are responsible for a large percentage of crimes committed. In South Carolina, 7 percent of criminals commit 66 percent of the crimes, so it follows that when offenders walk away from a life of crime, those numbers should decrease.
Thus far, the first cohort of HSC participants has largely stayed out of trouble; of the nine offenders enrolled, only two have re-offended. Those who commit crimes while enrolled in HSC are immediately booted from the program and moved to the front of the 4th Circuit Solicitor’s prosecution queue.
Those who stick with the program may find success and financial stability. Two men from that first HSC class earned their Commercial Driver’s License and found work. One now works for the City of Hartsville.
Hartsville Safe Communities partner law enforcement agencies include Darlington County Sheriff’s Office, Probation and Parole, SC Department of Corrections, SLED, SC Highway Patrol, US Department of Justice, DEA, and ATF.
Community partners include Darlington County First Steps, First Presbyterian Church, Cypress Adventures, Inc, Pee Dee Mental Health, Darlington County Habitat for Humanity, FDTC Hartsville, South Carolina Vocational Rehab, Gum Branch Church, SC Works, Mount Olive Word of Life Church, Hartsville Branch NAACP, and Palmetto Counseling Equine Therapy.
To learn more about Hartsville Safe Communities, contact the Hartsville Police Department at 843- 383-3811 or visit them at 135 W. Carolina Avenue in Hartsville.