SLED director briefs House subcommittee on budget, staffing, forensics lab and school-safety training center

Representative Chris Wooten, chair of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Subcommittee, presided over a Feb. 13, 2025 presentation by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division officials on the agency's internal operations, fiscal condition and capital projects.

SLED's director of internal operations, identified in the transcript as Mr. Royal (presented in committee materials as Don [surname transcribed variably]), told members the agency's total recurring budget for fiscal 2025 is $146,440,183 and described both recurring and nonrecurring funding, grant authority and staffing levels. "As you can see, we've had some growth since fiscal year 2020," the presenter said in explaining budget changes since FY2020.

Why it matters: The subcommittee is conducting a multi-part legislative oversight review of SLED. The briefing covered items that affect the agency's ability to investigate crimes statewide — including staffing and training, lab capacity and vehicle and equipment costs — and identified areas lawmakers may target for future funding or statutory change.

Topline fiscal details and grants SLED told the panel its recurring FY2025 budget stands at $146,440,183, up from roughly $103.3 million in FY2020. The agency said it currently administers roughly $25,000,000 in grant authority and expects that federal grant authority to grow by $5,000,000 next year to about $30,000,000.

Officials outlined recent nonrecurring appropriations that support operations and capital projects: $12,215,526 in nonrecurring funds allocated for agents; approximately $7.2 million (noted in slides as $7,197,226) and later cited as a current project budget of $8.6 million for the South Carolina Center for School Safety and Targeted Violence, $2,000,000 for the CWP program, $500,000 for personnel equipment, and $1,300,500 for specialized vehicles. They also cited a temporary increase of $3,000,000 in other-funds authorization to support lab relocation and radio upgrades, and a private Tri-County task force human-trafficking grant of $600,000.

SLED staff noted individual grant awards, including a $2,340,000 National Criminal History Program grant, a $1,160,000 one-year statewide cybersecurity award and a $1,136,367 two-year DNA-capacity grant for backlog reduction.

Budget composition and expenditures For FY2024 SLED reported expenditures of $83,585,164 in general funds, $16,148,002 in federal funds and $16,313,520 in earmarked funds. Major expense categories cited included $52,297,096 in personal services, about $20,498,000 in contractual services, and $21,360,000 in capital equipment (largely nonrecurring projects). The agency said allocations to grant subrecipients totaled $9,712,437.

Staffing, recruitment and career path SLED reported 761 authorized FTEs for FY2025 and 699 filled positions, a gap the agency described as largely procedural: about 50 positions are in the hiring process or awaiting payroll entry, leaving roughly four "true vacancies" available for immediate redeployment. The agency told members it requested 25 new positions in its budget submission but received funding without corresponding FTE authorizations for all of those requests.

SLED outlined its sworn career path and starting pay bands: Special Agent 1 base $58,000; Special Agent 2 $66,700; Special Agent 3 $73,370; Senior Special Agent $78,602; lieutenant $94,322; captain $107,004.22; and major $123,137. The director said the first-year, all-in cost to fund a new sworn position (salary, fringe, recurring costs and nonrecurring upfit) is about $191,584, with roughly $73,000 of that tagged as nonrecurring vehicle and equipment upfit.

On recruitment and diversity, the agency said recruiters attended about 21 college and veteran career events and that outreach efforts have led to increased minority and female applicants, though promotions to specialized units remain limited by training and experience requirements for subject-matter roles. "As the law enforcement applicant pool increases through the recruitment of minorities and females, we should see an increase in minority and female promotions as agents become eligible over time," the presenter said.

Human resources, grievances and professional responsibility Theresa "TK" Kitchens, identified in the transcript as SLED's HR director/administrative manager, described grievance and disciplinary processes. TK said employees may file grievances through several channels — supervisors, HR, the Office of Professional Responsibility or directly to the chief — and that SLED uses a disciplinary review committee that includes the chief, Office of Professional Responsibility, HR and legal to examine proposed disciplinary actions before they are imposed.

Chief Mark Keel addressed citizen complaints and disciplinary outcomes, saying the agency receives few public complaints and that dishonesty is the most common cause of terminations. "I have one golden rule and that is if you're dishonest, you can't work for me," Keel said. He added the agency averages "maybe 10 or 11 complaints a year," most of which are internal.

Forensics laboratory and case backlogs SLED described its new, state-of-the-art forensics laboratory, built for roughly $62,000,000 and completed in March 2024. The agency reported performance improvements since the lab opened: a 30% increase in completed cases, a 19% reduction in drug-identification backlog, and a 95% reduction in gunshot-residue case backlog. The agency said DNA analyses remain a staffing focus, noting it now has eight DNA scientists working cases and 14 in training.

SLED officials told the committee that changes in the legal landscape — for example, hemp and synthetic-drug cases — have expanded the laboratory's drug workload and contributed to new backlogs because hemp and some synthetics require more complex, quantitative testing than marijuana did previously.

Capital projects, facilities and the school-safety center SLED provided updates on capital projects and facilities management. The renovated former forensics building (project budget cited at $17.9 million) will house investigative units, the fusion center and regulatory units once renovations complete. The agency also described a regional office project on the Francis Marion campus (about $6.7 million) that will let SLED exit a leased downtown Florence space.

SLED described the South Carolina Center for School Safety and Targeted Violence (a repurposed Gilbert Elementary facility) as operational now for many training uses and noted it has already hosted roughly 60 classes with more than 700 students. The center will offer active-shooter and related training to law enforcement, educators, first responders and outside agencies; the presenter said the facility can be used at no charge by law enforcement.

Fleet, procurement and asset management SLED reported a 2024 fleet of 601 vehicles (up from 556 in 2019) and a target replacement life of about five years or 125,000 miles. The agency said it performs much of vehicle upfitting and routine maintenance in-house to control costs and speed deployment; average upfit cost cited was about $20,000 per vehicle (including a roughly $14,000 mobile radio and other equipment). SLED said in-house maintenance yields per-job savings compared with state-registered vendors and that routine procedural checks (including driving-record reviews) occur monthly or every 30 days.

Questions from members and next steps Members pressed SLED for more detail on recruiting, retention, personnel costs, the impact of federal grant stability, and operational risks tied to retirements: the agency said roughly 16% of sworn employees and 26% of non-sworn employees are eligible to retire within five years, but acknowledged eligible-to-retire does not equal imminent departure. The agency told members it will provide additional budget submission detail to staff upon request.

Short formal action recorded At the start of the hearing the committee voted to approve minutes from its Feb. 13 packet. Representative Gilliam made the motion; Representatives Bailey, Gilliam and Wheaton recorded "aye" on the roll call, while Representatives Garvin and Johnson were recorded as not present. The clerk announced "3 aye, 2 not present," and the motion carried.

Ending SLED officials and the subcommittee agreed to follow up with staff requests for additional budget and staffing details. Chair Wooten closed the session after thanking presenters and outlining that staff will contact agency officials about outstanding questions.