State of South Carolina

Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services

NIKKI R. HALEY
Governor

KELA E. THOMAS
Director

2221 DEVINE STREET, SUITE 600 POST OFFICE BOX 50666 COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 29250 Telephone: (803) 734-9220 Facsimile: (803) 734-9440

www.dppps.sc.gov

November 15, 2013

NEWS ADVISORY

Columbia Agents of the SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services will be assisting officers and deputies with Columbia Police Department and Richland County Sheriffs Department with city-wide security Saturday night. Most of the Agents will be deployed in the citys Five Points area. We were asked to provide 10 additional law enforcement personnel and we were glad to assist, said SCDPPPS Director Kela Thomas. The special deployments will continue for the next two weeks, which are home football weekends in Columbia. PPP Agents will be looking for probation and parole violators and assisting with other general law enforcement duties. The department has told persons it supervises to avoid Five Points and to stay out of establishments whose main purpose is serving alcohol, which would be a violation of their supervision. PPP Agents are C-1 law enforcement certified and have the same powers of arrest as other police officers and deputies. In addition, Agents have specialized training in dealing with the public because of their other deployments at Myrtle Beach bike week and for hurricane evacuation, Thomas noted. We have trained our Agents to defuse possible sens itive situations and I think they are well-equipped to deal with large and possibly boisterous after-game crowds, Thomas said. A state law that was passed several years ago allows law enforcement officers to search persons who are on probation or parole or other forms of supervision without their consent. Agents will be applying the new law along with other officers and deputies in the city. "It is because of partnerships like this, we are able to assist local law enforcement agencies in making our communities safer," said Asst. Deputy Director of Field Operations Clift Howle.

The S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services is charged with supervising nearly 33,000 criminal offenders on probation, parole and other forms of community supervision in the state. Agents of the department are an active part of the states emergency operations, hurricane evacuation and homeland security law enforcement operations. For more information contact Peter OBoyle, SCDPPPS Public Information Director, at (803) 734-9267, (cell) (803) 667-2214, poboyle@ppp.state.sc.us. @SCDPPPSNews

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