COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers are looking to end a practice that allowed police officers in the state to patrol by themselves for up to a year without training.
A bill receiving broad support in the South Carolina House would require an untrained officer to patrol with an officer who completed training at the state Criminal Justice Academy. The proposal was prompted by the shooting death of an untrained Florence Regional Airport officer during a January traffic stop.
Untrained officers have been allowed to patrol for decades because of waiting times of four months to get academy training. But academy officials say some video training has cleared the backlog.
FILE – In this May 11, 2017 file photo trainees practice pulling over a car in an exercise at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina lawmakers are looking to end a practice that allowed police officers in the state to patrol by themselves for up to a year without training. A bill receiving broad support in the South Carolina House would require an untrained officer to patrol with an officer who completed training at the state Criminal Justice Academy. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, file) 
FILE – In this May 11, 2017 file photo, trainers Brad Drawdy, center, and Jonathon Cox, right, speak to a police officer trainee during an exercise at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia, S.C.. South Carolina lawmakers are looking to end a practice that allowed police officers in the state to patrol by themselves for up to a year without training. A bill receiving broad support in the South Carolina House would require an untrained officer to patrol with an officer who completed training at the state Criminal Justice Academy. .(AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)