WINNSBORO – Winnsboro Department of Public Safety Chief Patrick Clemens gave a presentation to town council last month, updating some aspects of the department’s progress in increasing the town’s safety.
Staffing and Vehicles
Clemens said the department is now fully staffed, with 12 officers and seven firefighters.
“We now have a waiting list for police and fire positions,” he said. “Currently there are two pending repayments for officers that the department trained and were hired by other agencies. Hopefully those repayments will be enough to hire an additional firefighter.”
He said the shifts are 12-hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with two police officers and a firefighter assigned to each shift.
“When everyone is trained, nightshift will have two firefighters and two police officers,” he said. “Dayshift has one firefighter and two police officers supplemented by the members of staff who are at work, including Cpt. Tomashot and me. Both of us are also fire certified. Our investigators include Cpt. Williams and Sgt. Brayboy, and they are on 24-hour call.
“Some of our officers are new to Winnsboro, but they bring years of experience with them,” Clemens said.
He said the department has also able to purchase four vehicles.
“The Town gave us $68,000 toward vehicle purchases, and we purchased all four vehicles for $44,000,” Clemons said.
More Cameras Installed
“We’ve also installed more camera systems around the Town,” Clemons said. “When I took over, there were eight cameras in Town, and now there are about 128 cameras in 30 locations.” Pointing out the locations of the cameras, he said, “These are hitting the choke points. These include license plate readers and a couple of the cameras have facial recognition capabilities. The cameras can be searched from the database from a computer that is set up with a large screen TV,” Clemons said. “The data lasts two weeks unless the department can get an external server. Then, it would last 30 days. If there’s a shooting in the area, the recording is pulled the next day.
“So far, the cameras have helped solve or clarify several traffic accidents, an attempted murder and several larcenies. Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office will often contact us to get information from the cameras to help solve crimes in the county.”
Service Calls Tracked
According to a monthly stat sheet Clemons prepares, there were 1,113 service calls in July.
“That’s about 300 more from the month before,” he said. “Some of those calls include property checks, which are done every day. There’s a courtesy officer at Deerwood Apartments performing walk throughs.”
Clemons said there were 214 traffic stops last month and seven fires reported.
Witness Information Sought
Clemons emphasized that any information from the public is helpful in solving and preventing crimes in the town.
“What we’re always lacking is witnesses who are willing to come forward with information. The more information the department has,” Clemons said, “the better the case can be prosecuted.
He said information can be sent to WDPS anonymously through Facebook messenger.
“I manage the Facebook account, so I’m the only one who will see this,” he said. “I’m not interested in getting anyone involved who does not want to be.”
Clemons said that while the public safety department is in a much better place now, a big concern remains that someone will get hurt by kids shooting at each other.
“And even when we make an arrest, put the case together, and coordinate everything with the Solicitor, once it gets to court, probation is frequently given,” Clemons said. “Somewhere a deal is being made, and that’s not what it takes to keep our town safe. It is very frustrating watching people who the department has arrested end up on probation for a crime they should be doing time for.”
Victim’s Advocate Outsourced
Mayor Demetrius Chatman asked about hiring of a victim’s advocate.
“That’s not in the budget,” Clemons said. “To fund a full-time victim’s advocate, the Town would lose money. But we can have an Investigator who also can do victim’s advocate duties. The way the salary is set up, it has to be reflective of how much actual victim’s advocate work is being done. Otherwise, this would be fraud, and we’re not going to involve the Town in anything like that. So, this work is outsourced.”
Clemons said the department works with a group that handles sexual assault and other victim’s advocate cases.
Cpt. Williams encouraged residents to hold town hall meetings and to let the department know about them so officers and fireman can attend.
