Camden, SC (WLTX) - While the Camden High School auditorium was full with people of all ages Monday night, the candidates for Kershaw County Sheriff answered questions submitted by students because this event was put on by students.
"They see these people and then they see that they don't have this curtain in front of them. They can easily go talk to them, tell them about their issues and get involved and maybe see change that they want to see," Camden High School senior Ryan Dabbs said.
The candidates discussed relations between students and law enforcement, drug use, social media, mental health, how deputies are placed throughout the county and student-made threats against schools.
“We need counselors on the ground. We need teachers on the ground to understand if those students have mental health issues. They have to go to see the mental health teacher. SROs need to be trained to understand that there are students with mental health issues,” Anthony Bell said.
"I work here at the City of Camden Police Department. We've recently had some of these fake threats and we've jumped on the ground running. We've been able to get through it, get to the bottom of it, quick, fast and in a hurry,” Lee Boan said.
"A good trained SRO that uses the Triad concept of educating, counseling and mentoring as well as law enforcement could also be a big help in preventing those types of activities,” said Donald Branham.
"If a complaint is made to a principal or an SRO then we investigate that. If it meets the level of criteria to disrupt the school, you can't arrest a juvenile. A juvenile has to be detained and detained might not be the exact word, but the bottom line is that they have to be basically in the custody of their parents," Jack Rushing said.
"I will not tolerate that at all and if we find out that it is a juvenile that is responsible for it then they will be detained and DJJ and will be held in family court,” Eric Tisdale said.
Dabbs said he's glad that the community was able to hear from the candidates, but his main goal was getting others to register to vote and by the end of the event at least 21 more people will be able to vote in November.