National law enforcement analyst and Richland County Deputy receives state’s highest award

Media Personality Curtis Wilson honored with Order of the Palmetto

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) Deputy Curtis Wilson, an anchor and law-enforcement analyst for On Patrol: LIVE and news anchor for ABC Columbia (WOLO-TV), recently received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest award, during a special ceremony hosted by S.C. Representative Kambrell Garvin.

Presented February 19, the award recognized Wilson’s lifetime of service to local communities in central South Carolina, the state and the nation both as a popular media personality and a law enforcement leader; now having served with RCSD for two decades.

“This is a much-deserved honor,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, himself a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto (presented in 2007 by then-Gov. Mark Sanford). “Few are nominated, even fewer receive this highest of awards. Curtis now being a recipient speaks to what his service has meant, and what it continues to mean, to so many here in Columbia and Richland County and now across the country.”

A graduate of Benedict College and a former U.S. Army sergeant (nuclear, biological, chemical warfare NCO), Wilson has for years served as a radio personality, former announcer and “mic man” for Gamecock men’s and women’s basketball, South Carolina baseball, and Benedict football and basketball, as well as Ridge View High School football. Wilson served as an on-air personality on “The Big DM” (officially WWDM Radio) in Columbia as well as WJMZ Radio in Greenville. And he has been active in various community outreach programs: Volunteering for non-profits such as Harvest Hope Food Bank, The James R. Clark Memorial Sickle Cell Foundation, The American Red Cross, Oliver Gospel Mission, The United Way, The Columbia Urban League and many others.

Recognizable as the morning anchor for ABC Columbia, Wilson is perhaps best-known for his work as a law enforcement anchor and expert analyst for On Patrol: LIVE, a reality TV docuseries airing on cable channel REELZ. The national program, in which Wilson is often seen describing real-time LE-response events and police-pursuits to viewers from the show’s studios in Jersey City, N.J., airs each Friday and Saturday night with previous episodes streaming across various cable TV platforms.

In addition to the Order of the Palmetto, Wilson is the recipient of numerous state and national awards, honors, and decorations.

Established in in 1971 by Governor John C. West, the Order of the Palmetto, recognizes and honors extraordinary lifetime achievement, service, and exceptionally significant contributions to the state and the nation. The Order is officially the Palmetto State’s “highest civilian honor,” but it is in fact the highest S.C. honor presented by the governor. “There is no higher award,” said Governor Henry McMaster.

– W. Thomas Smith Jr., a special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, is a veteran U.S. Marine Infantry leader, a former war correspondent, and a New York Times bestselling editor. He is a 2019 recipient of the Order of the Palmetto.