Op-Ed: Sheriff Lott is the best man for the job

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Rarely do I champion or speak out for political candidates. I’ve advised a few over the years, but I usually don’t wave banners publicly. That said, if it’s a friend who I know beyond all doubt is the best man or woman for the job, I will. I have. My friend Col. Bill Connor comes to mind. Then there is Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. Frankly, there is no better, more experienced, or proven law enforcement leader than Sheriff Lott.

That’s not simply my opinion: Apparently, it’s a broadly held consensus locally, regionally, nationally, even internationally; one that in 2010 led Lott to Erbil, Iraq – about 220 miles north of Baghdad – as an advisor to the Iraqi police forces; specifically assisting in the establishment of that country’s first-ever female police academy.

Like many of us who have spent most of our lives in central S.C., I’ve “known-of” Lott all my life. As a teenager during the 1970’s, I remember hearing my dad and others talk about this “young forward-thinking up-and-comer” at the Richland County Sheriff’s Dept. (RCSD). His legend and reputation have only grown.

A one-time college baseball player who today holds degrees from several universities and law-enforcement academies; Lott began his career as an RCSD patrol officer, quickly rising through the ranks and ultimately becoming captain holding (at different times) various command and leadership posts including that of the narcotics division, administration, uniformed patrol, and watch commander. Though such a listing doesn’t begin to do justice to the story of Lott’s work prior to 1993 when he left Columbia to become chief of police in the town of St. Matthews.

Three years later, in 1996, Lott ran a successful campaign for sheriff of Richland County, returning to Columbia and beginning the quest to transform the RCSD into a high-speed 21st century police force – the largest in the state – and one in which he refers to as “a very open, very transparent department,” today.

In a recent video-interview with THE MINORITY EYE, Lott said his greatest accomplishment as sheriff has been bridge-building and community relations. “We’ve opened up our doors to the community and allowed everyone to be a part of just about everything we do,” said Lott, adding, “The community works with us as a team… The community trusts us.”

Lott’s accolades reflect this trust. His awards, decorations and honorary titles – from associations, schools, churches, chambers of commerce, military veterans groups, historically Black colleges, and other organizations – though too numerous to list, are as diverse as they are many. And they speak to the very bridges built and relationships developed by his department for the past 20 years.

Those who know him best will say Lott’s community outreach is not simply knocking on doors, standing on the front porch and talking. He steps inside, sits down and breaks bread with families.

As mentioned, I’ve “known-of” Lott most of my life. I began to learn more about him when he became sheriff and I interviewed him once or twice as a reporter; and was also regularly reading about the RCSD’s newfound bridge-building. But I didn’t really get to know the man until we were both serving in the S.C. Military Dept.’s Joint Service Detachment (JSD), essentially a volunteer advisory council, composed of field-grade and general-officers who report directly to the S.C. adjutant general. Lott, then a colonel, was wearing three hats – one as sheriff, one as a field-grade officer in JSD, the other as an officer in the historic S.C. State Guard (an all-volunteer state defense force, not to be confused with the National Guard which also falls under the S.C. Military Dept.).

Today Lott holds the rank of brigadier general in the State Guard, and he commands the Guard’s provost marshal command and the brand-new special-operations branch: Search and rescue teams and other elements in support of the S.C. National Guard and the Emergency Management Division.

How does he manage it all? Great personal reserves of energy, four decades of law enforcement experience, and an effective coordination-of-effort between his RCSD (including the 800-plus uniformed RCSD-officers and 100 civilian employees under his command) and everyone else in the county. In fact, Lott’s work with the State Guard, for instance, is not unlike his involvement with the broader community in that he brings to bear a driven, caring personality along with the resources of the RCSD in a one-hand-feeding-the-other dynamic which in turn benefits everyone from the state’s adjutant general to the frightened mother of an at-risk teenager to the poverty stricken flood-victim in lower Richland County and everyone in between.

Then there are Lott’s innovative programs from community advisory councils to community action teams to counter-gang units to special diversionary efforts aimed at keeping at-risk youth out of prison to his brand-new pre-PTSD conditioning program; preemptive training for his deputies designed to mitigate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder before those deputies hit the street.

Lott is running for re-election in this Tuesday’s Democrat primary, and he seems to have broad support across all party lines. He’s a popular sheriff; Always has been. In a June 8 interview for THE STATE newspaper, he said, “Politics have no place in law enforcement except I’m a cop that has to be elected to the position. My base is all citizens of Richland County and not one political party.”

For these reasons and myriad others, I urge everyone – Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike – to re-elect Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, in this week’s (Tuesday, June 14) primary.

– Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. online at http://uswriter.com.