Sheriff’s deputies will be undercover at Beaufort County meetings. Here’s why
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office will not send uniformed deputies to county government meetings as long as elected officials are considering a law that will order officers to arrest disruptive speakers, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Tuesday.
Instead, deputies will attend Beaufort County public meetings undercover in civilian clothes.
“We don’t enforce Robert’s Rules of Order, and we don’t enforce decorum,” Tanner said. “We don’t want members of council calling upon officers to remove speakers.”
The civilian clothes prevent council members from identifying and “inappropriately” calling on deputies to remove members of the public, Tanner said.
Tanner’s decision came after the county presented a draft ordinance on Jan. 13 that would allow the council chairman to order officers to remove and arrest speakers deemed “disruptive” at public meetings and charge them with a misdemeanor, he said.
Tanner, residents and two council members lamented the draft ordinance, saying it was a potential violation of the First Amendment and an attempt to target the behavior of one individual.
“While that’s still in current draft form and being debated by county council, I will not put uniformed officers in the council meetings,” Tanner said.
Two deputies attended Monday night’s council meeting undercover.
The Ordinance
Two weeks ago, the county presented a draft ordinance that would set specific rules for how citizens and elected leaders should behave during public meetings.
Although the ordinance was supported by all but two council members, it was removed from Monday night’s agenda at the eleventh-hour at the direction of Council Vice Chairman Paul Sommerville.
Agenda items cannot be added or pulled within 24 hours of a meeting. The ordinance was removed at 3:47 p.m. the day before Monday’s 6 p.m. meeting, much to the confusion of some residents and council members.
Sommerville said he had the ordinance pulled from the agenda because it “needed a lot more work” and he wants the county to meet with other municipalities before finalizing it.
The Town of Hilton Head Island and the town of Bluffton both have a 3-minute time limit per person on public comments.
At the Jan. 21 Hilton Head Island Town Council meeting, Tanner’s deputies showed up undercover in civilian clothes, Tanner said.
County Council members Chris Hervochon and Gerald Dawson opposed the ordinance from the beginning, calling it a “slippery slope” and an attempt to quell the behavior of one government critic: Skip Hoagland.
Council Chairman Stu Rodman advocated for the law, saying that Hoagland’s “antics have elevated” recently and that the county needed rules in place for public comments and decorum during meetings.
“I oppose the ordinance which is why I voted against it,” Hervochon said. “I don’t support any measure that makes it more difficult to provide the public the right to comment.”
Tanner said his officers will still enforce state statutes at meetings. He said he spoke with County Administrator Ashley Jacobs and Deputy County Administrator Chris Inglese about his decision.
Jacobs and Inglese did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
“I strategically put [deputies] in meetings to protect citizens, Beaufort County staff and council, but they’re not going to be obvious,” Tanner said. “They’re there to enforce the laws. They’re there to do their job, and they’re there to do that job at the direction of the Sheriff’s Office.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 4:50 AM.
