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An investigation by the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy (CJA) uncovered continued misconduct by the Blackville Police Department (BPD) and its former chief, resulting in a withdrawn certification and a tentative fine.
CJA investigators found evidence of misconduct in multiple instances within BPD, primarily in documents being altered to permit uncertified officers to act with full authority and while not under the supervision of a certified law enforcement officer. A date on one document was found to be altered physically using Wite Out, a white liquid applied to paper to cover errors.
“That's the concern that we as a council have, that you have officers out there that are not certified, who are not eligible to be working at all,” said Chief Mark Keel of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). “They met none of the qualifications to be working in the community they were working in.”
On July 24, Blackville Mayor Ronnie Pernell, former chief Ray Crawford and his attorney, Glenn Walters from Orangeburg, attended the South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council (LETC) meeting at CJA headquarters in Columbia.
At this meeting, the status of Crawford’s law enforcement certification and the overall continued departmental misconduct was on the agenda.
BACKGROUND
The first strike came on March 29, 2024 when the department received a non-compliance letter from CJA for not submitting an updated roster. According to CJA investigators, the roster was later submitted.
The second strike came on May 22, 2024 when an investigation was initiated against BPD Lieutenant Brian Gray. In the letters sent to Crawford, Gray, and Mayor Pernell, it states Gray was “willfully falsifying material information” provided to CJA.
Another May 22 letter sent to Crawford detailed how the department is still not in compliance with LETC orders, CJA requirements, or state law regarding properly submitting new hire and firearms forms.
“It has come to my attention that you are not abiding by the requirements of submitting a PCS of Hire form within three working days of hire and a firearms verification form within three working days of the PCS Hire, as required by law,” states the letter signed by CJA director Lewis Swindler.
The letter continues to state BPD was “allowing the same individuals to work alone and not while accompanied by a certified law enforcement officer. Therefore, you have violated South Carolina Code of Laws Ann. Section 23-23-40(A) in two ways.”
BPD not submitting these forms correctly or in the required time frame means the department has “allowed individuals who do not have law enforcement authority to act in the capacity of law enforcement officers.”
An uncertified officer is someone who has interest in being a law enforcement officer and is in the beginning stages of becoming fully certified through training at CJA and approval from LETC. They are not able to perform the same duties as a certified officer, and must be accompanied by a certified officer per state law.
“More problematically…the May 22 letter expressly said to stop working the individual that was not certified. They kept working that individual 34 days after they were told to stop working that non-certified individual,” stated a LETC member, noting another point of non-compliance within the department.
On June 20, another letter was sent to Attorney Walters, Crawford, and Mayor Pernell suspending both Crawford and Gray’s certification for “willfully falsifying material information provided to the Criminal Justice Academy.”
The letter explains Gray and Crawford provided false statements to a CJA investigator, provided false documents to the investigator, and submitted false documents to CJA’s certification unit.
An officer no longer possesses law enforcement authority with a suspended certificate. After June 20, this was the case for both Gray and Crawford.
WHO IS THE LETC?
The eleven-member LETC is the governing body of CJA and made of law enforcement officials across the state, like Chief Keel.
The creation of this council, of CJA, and of many of the laws which they enforce is outlined in Title 23, Chapter 23 of S.C. Code of Laws. It is non-optional for police departments in the state to be non-compliant with CJA or LETC rules, as they are written into much of this state law.
A portion of this law was amended to require all uncertified officers employed or appointed on or after July 1, 2022 by any department in the state, to be certified by the LETC to enforce state law, and operate in the physical presence of a certified officer when performing law enforcement duties.
According to CJA’s investigation, the altered documents, including the document with a Wite-Out covered date, submitted by BPD “was an attempt to back-date documents because they were working alone.”
THE HEARING
During the July 24 hearing, an LETC member detailed how “Crawford lied to the investigator that the uncertified officers were not working alone.”
Dates on hiring documents were altered to reflect new hires starting before the change in state law on July 1, 2022 to exempt them from being shadowed by a certified officer, according to investigators.
When CJA investigators asked Crawford if uncertified officers were working alone, he responded that they were assigned to certified officers.
Through interviews with past and present law enforcement officers of the department, CJA was able to prove this was not the case. In interviews with former law enforcement officers who served in the Town of Blackville, The People-Sentinel found similar results to that of CJA.
Before the LETC made their decision on the status of his certification, Crawford and Walters were invited to speak.
“I apologize I’m here today before you, I should not be here,” said Crawford. He began his career in law enforcement in 2007 and joined BPD in July 2021 after leaving a resource-rich department in North Charleston.
“When I got there, it was chaos, so I had to find a way to get things structured,” said Crawford. “There were only two officers at the time, and an admin lieutenant Brian Gray who was serving as chief at that time, who I leaned heavily on for the admin side.”
Crawford explained to the council that he came to BPD knowing little about the administrative end, and relied on Gray because he “had someone in place who I thought was proficient,” he said.
Walters shared a similar sentiment to his client, explaining that the approach the town took when hiring Crawford only made it more challenging for him to get the department in order.
According to Walters, Crawford was not given a typical leadership entrance. He was not able to restructure the department or handle much of the root issues.
However, Walters and Crawford both did agree and admit, respectfully, that altered documents were submitted to CJA regardless.
Some of the main issues in BPD is a lack of personnel, which was the ultimate reason for this entire debacle, and low pay scale in comparison to other regional departments.
According to Mayor Pernell, he was on the interview panel when hiring Crawford in July 2021 under former mayor Michael Beasley, and he too noticed the problems the chief was going to face.
“A town like Blackville, it’s hard to get certified officers,” said Mayor Pernell at the July 24 meeting. “They come in the system and we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the funds.”
“Anytime you suspend an officer or don’t allow them to keep their certifications, it hurts the small towns,” he said.
Chief Keel, a Barnwell native, explained he and the LETC are very familiar with the challenges rural communities face in regards to policing, but restated the importance of following the law.
“We certainly understand small town police problems, we see that there are many challenges. But at the same time, we’ve got to make sure that we hold this profession to a high standard and that’s what all of this is about. While we understand that, again there is a standard and laws that we have to make sure are enforced,” said Chief Keel.
THE DECISION
The LETC unanimously voted to withdraw Crawford’s law enforcement certification, meaning he no longer possesses law enforcement authority.
Gray will be appearing before the council at their August meeting.
In total, the department was noncompliant for 55 days with various CJA, LETC, and state laws. The maximum fine this could yield is $1,000 per day of non-compliance, meaning a $55,000 fine for the Town of Blackville.
In a decision described as “extreme mercy” by a LETC member, the town was not fined the large sum, but instead a motion was made for a $3,500 fine to be suspended upon successful completion of a one-year probation period where the department remains in compliance.
Before the council voted, Chief Keel reminded the council of the town’s inability to pay.
“We’re talking about a very small, rural town. Everybody on this council knows the challenges we have in trying to find certified officers to work in these jurisdictions,” said Chief Keel.
The council unanimously approved the motion, and the department is now in a one-year probation period. The department is currently in compliance with CJA and LETC.
WHAT’S NEXT
BPD is currently under the command of interim Chief Shawn Howze, who was brought in to the department in early July after Crawford was initially suspended.
Chief Howze, a native of Blackville, is operating with full support from SLED and patrol assistance from the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office.
At the July 24 meeting, CJA Director Lewis Swindler explained non-compliance is not exclusively to the Town of Blackville, and he has signed roughly 50 non-compliances letters for agencies across the state in this year alone.
According to both Swindler and Keel, CJA allows departments to fix mistakes before being deemed non-compliant. However, they are also finding that once this ‘fix it’ period is over, the departments are going back to old ways. Frequently, the officials found that departments in a similar situation to the Town of Blackville do not come into compliance until they are brought before the LETC.
Due to the high number of non-compliance letters sent in the past seven months, Swindler explained CJA will be looking into readjusting time restraints given to departments and officers.
