Archives > 1976 South Carolina Code of Laws - Previous Versions > 2007 Session > Title 23

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Title 23 - Law Enforcement and Public Safety

CHAPTER 27.

POLICE DISTRICTS IN UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES

SECTION 23-27-10. Authorization for special police districts.

In order to provide adequate police protection for unincorporated villages or towns or thickly populated areas outside the limits of incorporated municipalities, special police districts may be created and established within any county in this State for any such unincorporated area.

SECTION 23-27-20. Petition to establish district.

Before any such special district may be formed there shall be filed with the clerk of court of the county in which such district is proposed to be created a petition signed by a majority of the resident landowners in the proposed district. The petition shall be accompanied (a) by a plat or map showing the limits of the proposed district, (b) by an adequate description of the territory by reference to recorded plats or maps or (c) by any other general description sufficient for the commissioners of the district and the county auditor to ascertain the landowners within the area.

SECTION 23-27-30. Election on establishment of district and for commissioners of district.

When the petition is approved by the clerk of court of the county in which the proposed special district is located the clerk shall call an election of the qualified voters within such district to vote upon the question of establishing the district for the purpose of special police protection. The clerk shall designate some place within the proposed district for the holding of the election and shall appoint the managers and declare the results thereof. He shall give notice of the time and place thereof for at least three weeks in some newspaper published in the county and by posting notices thereof in at least three public places within the proposed district for the same length of time. At such election only the qualified electors residing within the district shall be allowed to vote, according to the laws of general elections. They shall vote "Yes" or "No" on the question of establishing such special police district and at the same election they shall vote on the election of three commissioners to hold office, in the event a majority of the votes cast shall be in favor of establishing such district, for terms of two, four and six years and until their successors are elected and qualified, their successors, however, to have terms of office of six years and until their successors are elected and qualified. Thereafter a commissioner shall be elected at the time of each State biennial election.

SECTION 23-27-40. Organization; vacancies; compensation.

As soon as practicable after the election, if a majority of the votes cast be in favor of establishing such district, the commissioners shall meet and organize as the board of commissioners of such special police district and they shall draw, by lot, the commissioners who shall hold office for the two, four and six year terms respectively. At the organization meeting and following the election of any commissioner thereafter they shall elect one of their number as chairman and another as secretary who shall keep a record of the deliberations of the board. In the event of any vacancy on the commission the remaining members of the commission shall elect a commissioner to fill the unexpired term. They shall serve without compensation.

SECTION 23-27-50. Board as body politic; rights, privileges and duties.

The board of commissioners of any such special district shall be a body politic and shall exercise the rights, privileges and duties of such as herein further defined.

SECTION 23-27-60. Recommendation of personnel for police duty in district.

The board of commissioners may recommend to the sheriff of the county the personnel for police duty within the district and fix the salaries therefor or it may recommend the discharge of any thereof. Upon such recommendation to him the sheriff may commission the person or persons so recommended as a special deputy sheriff or deputies, but if any person recommended be unsatisfactory to him the sheriff may request the board of commissioners to name others until satisfactory ones are agreed upon.

SECTION 23-27-70. Bond of deputy sheriffs for district.

No person shall be commissioned as a deputy sheriff under the provisions of this chapter until he shall have furnished sufficient bond with surety, to be approved by the sheriff and filed as other such bonds are filed, for the faithful performance of his duties as special deputy sheriff, the cost of such bond to be paid by the district. There shall be no liability upon the sheriff or his bond for any act of any deputy commissioned under the provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 23-27-80. Powers and duties of deputies.

The deputies so commissioned shall assume the general duties of law-enforcement officers within the district to which they are appointed and as such officers they shall have the same power and authority as to offenses committed within the district as deputy sheriffs have within the county. Persons arrested by a special deputy sheriff commissioned under the provisions of this chapter may be carried by such arresting officer before any magistrate in the county having jurisdiction over the district and there be charged for the offense and the cases shall be disposed of as provided by law.

SECTION 23-27-90. Budget and description of district.

To meet the expenses for such special deputy sheriffs in any such special district, the board of commissioners of the district shall each year before the levying of taxes make up a budget or estimate for their district which shall give the estimated expenses for the succeeding year and shall submit it to the county auditor for approval. They shall also provide the county auditor with an adequate description of the special police district, either by reference to maps or plats filed or recorded in the records of the county or by designated boundaries of sufficient certainty to enable the county auditor to levy upon the property therein, and, if requested, they may assist the county auditor in listing the property within such district.

SECTION 23-27-100. Levy of taxes; disposition of funds collected.

Upon receipt of the budget submitted by the commission, the county auditor shall levy taxes upon all the assessable property in the district to meet the expenses thereof as herein authorized and upon the collection of such taxes by the county treasurer, they shall be disbursed by the treasurer upon the approval of the commissioners of the district for the purposes herein stated. All taxes so levied for such special district shall be kept separate on the assessment roll from other levies and moneys so collected and shall be kept in a separate fund for such district and any surplus that may occur in any one year shall be carried forward and applied to the next year's account and be properly considered in the budget for the expenses of such district for the ensuing year.

SECTION 23-27-110. Procedure for abolishing district.

Any special police district created under the provisions of this chapter may be abolished at the end of any calendar year whenever a majority of the resident landowners therein shall sign a petition directed to the members of the county legislative delegation of the county wherein it is located requesting that the district be abolished, if public notice be given that the petition is to be circulated by three weeks' publication in some newspaper published in the county and by posting notices thereof in at least three public places within the district. Upon receipt of any such petition the county legislative delegation may pass a resolution directed to the clerk of court and to the county auditor, declaring the district abolished and all the rights and duties thereunder at an end.

SECTION 23-27-120. Declaration of purpose; construction of chapter.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide adequate police protection for unincorporated villages, towns and thickly populated areas outside of the limits of incorporated municipalities, and this chapter shall be liberally construed and interpreted to carry into effect such purpose.

SECTION 23-27-130. Chapter is cumulative.

The rights, privileges and methods provided for in this chapter for the creation of special districts and the appointment of special deputy sheriffs are cumulative to all other ways and methods provided by law in this State.