SC lawmakers want taxpayers to fund Capitol cops

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

Although South Carolina taxpayers already provide armed police officers on the State House grounds — in addition to separate security staffs for House and Senate members — lawmakers are once again proposing the creation of a Capitol police force.

The legislation, H. 4519, filed last week by Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, is virtually identical to a failed 2009 bill sponsored by then-Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, who in 2012 became the lieutenant governor with the resignation of Ken Ard.

The same year he became the lieutenant governor, McConnell, whose office is located on the east wing of the State House, convinced lawmakers to give him a four-member security team made up of sworn agents of the State Law Enforcement Division – the state’s lead investigative law enforcement agency.

at The Nerve.

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