Meet the three candidates for Lexington County sheriff in the June 11 SC primary election
The State opinion team interviewed more than 50 political candidates ahead of South Carolina’s June 11, 2024, primary election, and we present Q&As with all three Lexington County sheriff candidates below. Early voting begins May 28. No Democrats or other party candidates filed to run so one of these three Republicans will be sheriff. If one gets more than half the vote, he will win. If no one does, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff election. Every candidate was emailed five questions and given 250 words for each answer as part of our endorsement process. We are publishing these interviews first so readers can assess the candidates on their own. Candidate Billy Warren did not initially answer the questions about crime reduction, response times and working conditions despite repeated requests. He sent them after we published this, and we added them.
If you have questions about our interviews or eventual endorsements, email me.
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Lexington County sheriff: Driggers vs. Koon vs. Warren
Alan Driggers
Q: What are your top three priorities and why?
A: The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department is experiencing a staffing crisis. Employee turnover and stress are high. Two years ago, there were not even enough school resource officers to cover our schools. In fact, our Sheriff’s Department had to resort to asking Richland County deputies to help protect our school children! We simply cannot allow this crisis to continue to go unresolved.
If elected sheriff of Lexington County, I will put an end to the Sheriff’s Department’s staffing crisis by focusing on the following three priorities:
Increase starting pay for deputies. Our Sheriff’s Department used to offer one of the top law enforcement salaries in the state. But, now, it does not. If we want to hire and retain only the best people to serve as Lexington County deputies, we must offer better pay for these critical public safety jobs.
Increase staffing to keep pace with county growth. To effectively combat crime and improve response times across all of Lexington County, we must take steps to ensure our Sheriff’s Department is growing right along with our county.
Revamp benefits package for all Lexington County first responders. Any county employee that can be summoned by dialing 911 is, by definition, performing a critical job. We should improve the benefits that we offer to these first responder heroes.
At the end of the day, I want to take better care of the men and women of the Sheriff’s Department so that they can take better care of the people of Lexington County.
Q: How would you reduce crime countywide, and what types of crime would you focus on?
A: When I was a little boy, our family’s home was burglarized. We were poor and didn’t own anything of value, so there wasn’t a great monetary loss to our family. (Thinking back on it, I’m certain that experience played some part in me later deciding to become a law enforcement officer.) Many years later, while serving as a lieutenant with the Sheriff’s Department, my personally-owned pickup truck was stolen out of my driveway – twice!
So, I know from experience that even if a particular crime does not leave physical wounds, it can certainly leave psychological wounds that can contribute to a loss of a sense of peace and security. Of course, violent crimes must and should be a priority, but at the end of the day, all types of crime are important because every crime victim is important.
If elected sheriff, I would take steps to not only fill the Sheriff’s Department’s currently vacant positions, but to also increase the Sheriff’s Department’s staffing levels so that more deputies can be deployed to patrol and provide better services to all areas of the county. This would include adding additional detectives to allow for more timely and more thorough follow-up investigations.
Utilizing my many years of experience serving as the Sheriff’s Department’s human resources director, I would conduct a staffing analysis to determine the proper number of deputies we need to help keep all areas of Lexington County safe.
Q: What is your specific plan to reduce caller response times?
A: Our deputies are doing the best they can to respond to the needs of the people of Lexington County, but the staffing crisis within the Sheriff’s Department, coupled with the continued, rapid population growth of the county, is currently making it impossible to lower or improve response times. It is important to also remember that these issues contribute to higher stress on our deputies. That’s why, if elected, I want to take immediate steps to increase pay, increase staffing levels and improve benefits packages for first responders. Taking these measures would put the Sheriff’s Department in a much better position in terms of being able to recruit good, new deputies while also retaining our great, experienced ones. As mentioned earlier, I would also conduct a comprehensive staffing analysis to determine the appropriate staffing levels needed for our Sheriff’s Department to be better able to protect and serve the people of Lexington County.
Q: How would you improve working conditions, training and morale for deputies?
A: This is all about taking better care of our deputies. People who become law enforcement officers – or, at least, the ones who do it for the right reasons – actually enjoy helping people. I know that the men and women of the Sheriff’s Department enjoy helping people and that they want to be able to provide better services to the people of Lexington County. But, in order for them to be able to do so, our deputies have to be able to take that extra five or 10 minutes to stop and help a disabled motorist with a flat tire, to sit down and talk with a stressed out parent and their troubled teenager, or to reassure a scared crime victim. Early in my career, I responded to a death scene at a residence and watched one of our detectives take a young boy who had just suffered the loss of his mother out into the front yard to toss a football back and forth while we awaited the arrival of the coroner and members of the deceased’s family. It was a small act of compassion, and even though it didn’t and couldn’t change the sad circumstances of us being there, it was a beautiful example of serving others. By putting an end to the staffing crisis at the Sheriff’s Department and taking better care of our deputies, working conditions, training and morale at the Sheriff’s Department will improve.
Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?
A: I spent my entire law enforcement career, from 1996 to 2020, as a Lexington County deputy sworn to protect and serve the people of our county. I started as a patrol deputy and worked my way up through the ranks, ultimately retiring at the rank of lieutenant. In fact, I have worn the Lexington County uniform and badge longer than all the other candidates in this race – combined. So, I fully understand what it means to be a Lexington County sheriff’s deputy, and if elected, my career as a Lexington County deputy would allow me to bring a valuable insight and unique perspective to the job of sheriff.
As a graduate of the Law Enforcement Command College of South Carolina at Anderson University, where I received my Master of Criminal Justice degree, I possess more formal education than any of the other candidates in this race.
And, as a law enforcement accreditation assessor on behalf of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, I have traveled all across our state and nation visiting and gleaning good ideas from other law enforcement agencies.
I believe I’m the best candidate to bring important, much-needed changes to our Sheriff’s Department. But, perhaps most importantly, I have known and served alongside the men and women who have protected and served the people of Lexington County for most of the past quarter century. They know me. They trust me. I think they know a change is needed, and I want to lead that change.
Incumbent Sheriff Jay Koon
Q: What are your top three priorities and why?
A: Keeping up with growth. Lexington County continues to see unprecedented growth. We must continue to work with each community by talking to local leaders, business owners and residents to find out their issues. We have done a good job by establishing a strong relationship with local mayors and police chiefs and have supported them in their local efforts.
Continue to work on recruitment and retention. I have spoken to colleagues in law enforcement across the country and everyone is affected. I have worked with county officials over the last few years to improve pay and benefits for our employees. We are coming off a record year for hiring and retention, where hiring was up 48% and more importantly separations were down 52%. The county administrator will include another pay package in his recommended budget that he presents this year to council. We must keep “our foot on the gas” on this issue.
Continue to lead an agency that is trusted, accountable and transparent. When I arrived nine years ago, the longtime sheriff had been indicted and removed from office. I had to repair community trust and relationships with other agencies and the media. We had to make sure we had the trust of the community. I am proud to say the dark clouds are gone. We have been recognized for awards as an agency and individually. Our relationships with federal, state and local agencies are at an all-time high. We will continue to build on that as we move forward.
Q: How would you reduce crime countywide, and what types of crime would you focus on?
A: We have held the line when it comes to crime even with the tremendous growth we have experienced. Index crime (major crimes) were down over 2% from 2017 to 2021. Last year was a great year for us for reducing crime. Assault and battery high and aggravated was down 11.6%. Robbery was down 24.2%. Burglary was down 11.2%. Larceny was down 17.9%. Motor vehicle theft was down 19%.
Our deputies have done an amazing job. We must continue to work with citizens and educate them on how to reduce risks of being crime victims. Solicitor Rick Hubbard and his team continue to prosecute our cases very efficiently and effectively. This helps by getting justice for victims and putting criminals behind bars.
Q: What is your specific plan to reduce caller response times?
A: This is a very important issue that we continue to work on. Obviously more people working and answering service calls is important. As I highlighted previously, our recruitment and retention numbers continue to improve, which will be key. We also continue to use technology to our advantage where deputies and dispatchers can see everyone’s location on a map and send the closest available personnel. We also triage calls like an emergency room at a hospital in order to prioritize our response based on the safety of our citizens. We will continue to expand our telephone reporting system for service calls that do not require a deputy to come to the location and free up personnel for more severe calls.
Q: How would you improve working conditions, training and morale for deputies?
A: The employee benefits that I previously highlighted have been a big help. We have also added several pieces of equipment to help our deputies. I fully implemented our body camera program for their safety and for transparency for the community. We are supplying patrol rifles and have moved to outer vests for deputies safety and comfort. The county hopes to break ground on our West Region Service Center before the end of the calendar year. It will be located on Highway 1 between Gilbert and Batesburg-Leesville to serve a growing area of our county. It will be much like our North Region Center in Irmo and will contain law enforcement operations, the local magistrate’s office and a free standing fire department. County Council also has plans to study for a jail expansion that has to be done to decommission our 50-year-old jail and expand for the future.
Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?
A: I stand on my 30 years of law enforcement experience in this community and my last nine years as sheriff. We have been battle tested from day one and rose to every challenge. We were faced with a 1,000-year flood right out of the gate. We have responded to plane crashes, a train wreck, a mall shooting and many incidents that have required an “all hands on deck” response. We dealt with a global pandemic, a national tide against law enforcement and the recruitment and retention challenges. We have responded well. I am very proud of the work we have done and am honored to lead the men and women of our agency. Due to their hard work, I have received personal awards, the 2022 Strom Thurmond Excellence in Law Enforcement Award and I was recognized by my peers as the 2023 South Carolina Sheriff’s Association Sheriff of the Year. My wife, Kim, and I have deep family roots in Lexington County and are very proud to serve our community.
Billy Warren
Q: What are your top three priorities and why?
A: Top priority: Hire personnel to rebuild the department to reduce response times, become proactive rather than reactive and this will help the negative morale the employees are faced with everyday. This in return will afford citizens the professional timely service that not only they pay for but more importantly they expect from their Sheriff’s Department.
Drugs and theft are the two issues I hear the most the public wants assistance with.
Q: How would you reduce crime countywide, and what types of crime would you focus on?
A: Top three crimes I hear of concern to most citizens: drugs, theft and trespassing
We will continue to combat drugs by:
1. Using confidential informants to work drug houses.
2. If an informant cannot be used, we will patrol said area utilizing any law we can to deter persons from returning. We will shut the drug houses down by any legal means possible.
3. We will follow up on all drug tips through the drug hotline
4. I will have a program to educate all of our students on types and dangers of drugs.
Theft: By increasing the patrol division, we will reduce some of our theft crimes by becoming proactive and being visible in the county. The United States Supreme Court offers law enforcement the ability to investigate potential crimes based upon reasonable suspicion, and we will utilize this ruling to deter crime. If there is no fear of being caught, criminals will continue to commit these crimes.
Trespassing: We will enforce, when applicable, trespassing laws. We encourage property owners to post their property with signs or purple paint and to call the Sheriff’s Department when a violation occurs.
Q: What is your specific plan to reduce caller response times?
A: As stated in my top priority answer, I will not only rebuild but add to the size of the patrol division due to the growth of the county that has grown from 2009-2019 by just over 40,000 residents, and we are on pace this decade to grow even more. We will be available to answer 911 calls when received and not based upon priority. Every call is important, and we will respond in a timely, professional manner. I will also look at our dispatch system to see if any changes are needed. The Sheriff’s Department is a large entity, which requires phone callers and dispatchers on a full-time basis to provide a fast response time. Citizens have told me dispatch has placed them on hold, and this is not acceptable by my standards.
Q: How would you improve working conditions, training and morale for deputies?
A: Officers want a leader they know will have their back to accomplish their jobs. The hottest topic in law enforcement was, is and always will be use of`force. No other profession in the world except for the military asks men and women to potentially on a daily basis use force against others. I have used force against persons in the performance of my job and taught use of force as an adjunct instructor for 19 years and a primary instructor for 10 years. By bringing this background to the men and women of the Sheriff’s Department, I will be able to support them when they are involved in using force that is within our policy.
I will also address the current health care and retirement package with County Council. This is another priority for me as we need an attractive package to offer potential candidates.
Training is the most important division within any law enforcement agency, and we will continue to provide continuous training to all officers not only because the courts repeatedly stress training, but through my experience, officers do rely on training to either defuse a situation or to stop a threat. We will also open up our training program for citizens to watch and learn in order to understand what type of training officers are offered to perform their duties. Yes, citizens will be able to sign up online to attend a training session as an observer. These training dates will be posted on the department website.
Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?
A: We bring positive leadership into the department which will help us attract quality candidates who do want to be in law enforcement. I bring 32 years of service, experience and knowledge with me as well as I’m a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and will protect the citizens’ constitutional rights.
