This month’s meeting was held at the Del Webb Library in Indian Land. A number of items were discussed, including looking for volunteers for two upcoming events mentioned at end of Newsletter.
Our featured speakers were Lancaster County Coroner Karla Knight Deese & Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile. They presented an overview of how their departments work together and why both are highly respected in their fields.
Coroner Karla Knight Deese
Coroner Deese is D-ABMDI (American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators). She started the meeting discussing many topics, then took questions on topics such as….
She discussed drug deaths – both prescription and others such as Fentanyl, etc. and the difference between overdose and death.
Nationwide some Covid deaths may have had other causes which may have been overlooked on death certificates.
Coroner Deese and her staff also are “Crime Scene Investigators.” If needed, autopsies conducted by her office are free to the families as this is a county department funded with taxpayer dollars.
They are working on being one of the few accredited coroner’s offices in the state and due to ARPA federal funding they are enlarging their facilities, which will allow accreditation. Her office has the highest number of training hours per deputy in the state. One deputy coroner has the highest of anyone in the state.
Sheriff Barry Faile
Sheriff Faile announced they just broke up a local dog fighting ring and confiscated 33 dogs, 7 guns and more.
He then presented information on crime statistics (percent of solved cases), how the county is divided in various sectors, number of staff on patrol, as well as, in the detention center.
He discussed local response times with the county vs. many other areas, manpower, training and types of crime in Lancaster County. Sheriff Faile discussed how closely his office works with the Coroner’s office, as well as, the Solicitor’s office and others. They offer rehabilitation programs, when possible, to try and help those who might otherwise go to jail and not have an opportunity to improve the path they might otherwise find themselves on.
He credited the Lancaster County Council with being very good to his department in recent years and mentioned how as the population grows his department along with many others need to grow in order to keep up with services provided.
Sheriff Faile also mentioned the training of his department and that they strive to maintain and exceed the highest level of training. The Sheriff’s office is one of the few with accreditation. They also offer a Citizens Academy Agenda, which is 10 weeks long, to acquaint citizens with behind the scenes work of law enforcement.
Other Business Discussed at the Meeting: