Lake patrol training on the agenda for growing number of Anderson County sheriff's deputies

Rick Spruill Independent Mail

Anderson County Sheriff Lt. Chris Scott, left, and Sheriff investigator Rusty Able ride on the County Sheriff's Office lake patrol boat on Hartwell Lake Saturday.

ANDERSON COUNTY — When these guys hit the lights and punch the throttle, they don’t need to worry about running off the road.

They’re not in a squad car. They’re in the Anderson County Sheriff’s Lake Patrol boat, which, when it’s running at full power, can leave a loosely-worn ballcap in its wake.

Investigator Rusty Able and Lt. Chris Scott of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, who are actually forensic investigators, volunteered for extra duty this weekend on Hartwell Lake. They are spending their July Fourth holiday patrolling the 355 miles of shoreline in the county.

The two men are part of a growing number of Anderson County sheriff’s deputies being trained to operate the boat and conduct lake patrols like the ones happening this weekend. Able and Scott, who said they grew up on the lake fishing together as teens, have been trained in the many aspects of maritime law enforcement, including the proper way to transport by boat someone who is under arrest.

Training also is provided in boat safety and navigation, something both men agreed is of great importance in a boat as large as this one, on a lake as large as Hartwell.

“This particular boat we bought through a homeland security grant under (former) Sheriff David Crenshaw,” Able said Saturday. “We got about $50,000 for the boat and motor, and the county helped pay for the gear we use on board.”

The boat is a 20-foot Pioneer center console with a 200-horsepower, outboard motor. The GPS system and communications equipment keep the patrol in touch with county dispatch operators, and the ‘SHERIFF’ lettering along the sides removes any doubt of who is operating the craft.

“This boat has a calming effect on a lot of the jet skiers and hot-doggers out here,” Scott says with a chuckle. “It’s like a marked patrol car, but on the water. People tend to slow down and mind what they’re doing when they see the blue lights and the letters on the side.”

Within minutes of the time the boat leaves the county boat launch near Andersonville Island and checking in with county dispatch operators as Marine One, the reaction of boaters on the lake bears witness to Scott’s words. Jet skiers stop crisscrossing in the wake of larger craft, and fast-moving ski boats ease off of the throttle when the patrol passes nearby.

The two officers were on the lake Saturday to answer complaints from lake visitors handled through the county 911 dispatch center, and to investigate cases involving theft.

“Our basic role is to handle some of the things DNR isn’t tasked to handle,” Able said, referring to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. “We investigate property theft on the lake and follow up on reported drug activity.”

Able said property theft ranges from people stealing fishing poles and trolling motors off of docked boats to thefts of the boats themselves.

“There are thousands of lake homes in and around the area of the lake we’re responsible for,” Able said. “The criminals will hit a dock or boathouse at night or in the early morning, and they don’t leave tracks, because they come by water.

“Sometimes they’ll act like they’re fishing a cove when they’re actually casing it. It’s a good idea for people to pay attention to who is fishing near their dock, especially if they’re hanging around.”

While theft and boating-under-the-influence play a large part in an average day patrols on the lake, Able said the water also is becoming a spot for drug pushers.

“These islands make an attractive spot for someone wanting to grow a marijuana field or to cook meth, and we’re out here to investigate the calls we get,” he said. “Some of the meth labs are actually floating labs. They put ‘em on boats and pull out into the middle of lake so you can’t smell the stuff cooking. We’re seeing more of that around.”

Asked if the lake patrol boat will match anything on the water in terms of top speed, Scott said, “I doubt we’d catch a cigarette boat if we got after one. But, that’s OK. We may not catch it, but Air One (the county’s pursuit helicopter) would.”

After 20 minutes of high-speed travel Saturday from a point on the Tugaloo River branch to the Big Water Marina several miles south, the two deputies beached the boat and handled a disturbance call on an island near the marina.

A natural resources department deputy had asked the men to speak to a group of campers who had grown a little too rowdy and were the subject of some complaints from other campers.

When the patrol boat approached, the rowdy group calmed down. Within minutes, the deputies were pushing the boat back into the water with a little help from the folks on shore.

It wasn’t a high-adrenaline call, Able said, but “you never know. Out here, it’s just like on the streets. You’ve always got to be prepared for anything.

“Our role on the lake is enforcement, just like it is on the streets. To coin a phrase, we’re here to protect and to serve. We’re just taking it from the streets to the water.”

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