Orangeburg universities, law enforcement agencies join forces; police substation opens on Goff

The City of Orangeburg’s Department of Public Safety, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina State University and Claflin University have announced the opening of a joint police substation.

“This is community policing in its purest form, when we bring together the various resources that are available to us to include the community,” ODPS Chief Charles Austin said during a Thursday morning press conference.

“I expect that we are going to begin seeing results by virtue of this presence,” he said.

The substation, which opened Thursday, is located at the intersection of Goff Avenue and Buckley Street in a 1,000-square-foot former home. The structure was acquired by S.C. State.

Austin said local law enforcement agencies “have been having some conversations now for some time about how we can strategically place our resources in an effort to address some of the concerns.”

“This is an optimal strategic location for all of us in terms of being able to address the concerns of the community,” Austin said.

In addition to the substation, an additional camera will be installed to help monitor the area.

Personnel from each department will be in and out of the office, Austin said.

“The personnel who will utilize it will come in and write reports or, if we need to meet citizens regarding concerns, we will be able to do that,” Austin said.

Since resources are already in place, Austin said there will be no substantial additional cost to man the station.

“It is just a matter of scheduling,” Austin said.

The departments will meet with students to explain the concept and role of the station, he said.

“If there is an incident, what we would encourage them to do is to find the nearest law enforcement personnel to get some action,” Austin said.

S.C. State Police Chief Timothy Taylor said the substation is, “a step in the right direction for us to bridge our gap between law enforcement in this community.”

“We often come on one page and fight crime around Orangeburg, South Carolina,” Taylor said. “We will continue to build our relationship under my leadership and we will grow stronger than ever here at South Carolina State.”

“We will work together and share information with one another in this community with law enforcement to make this a better place,” Taylor said.

The partnership allows Claflin University to extend its work with the city, S.C. State and the sheriff’s office, Claflin Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Melvin Williams said.

“We are excited about what is going to happen here. We are excited about the successes we are going to have protecting our campus communities as well as the citizens of the City of Orangeburg and the County of Orangeburg,” Williams said.

Sheriff Leroy Ravenell also praised the partnership.

“I know visibility is one of the greatest things you can have to curb crime in our communities. This is one of the things – we want to be visible and we are going to be here,” Ravenell said.

Orangeburg City Administrator Sidney Evering said, “It goes without saying that public safety for our community, for our universities, for our students are the utmost importance.

“The City of Orangeburg is a college town. We find that South Carolina State and Claflin University are a very important part of our community and we want to make sure that we are always maintaining the trust of the parents who sent their children and their students to South Carolina State and Claflin.”

S.C. State Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Frederick Evans said, “We wish to extend our appreciation for the community constituents to help South Carolina State University and the other surrounding institutions with this joint substation that we will open.

“It is our belief that it takes a village to protect a village and with this village, with all of our university partners here, with Claflin University, the City of Orangeburg, the County of Orangeburg, we are certain that it will provide a much safer environment for all of our students.”

Last year, Claflin University President Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack asked Orangeburg City Council about the possibility of closing a portion of Goff Avenue for safety reasons.

The city has proposed closing the street from Magnolia Street to Clark Street during certain times, with the potential of expanding the closure to Buckley Street.

Evering Thursday said the discussions about closing the road continue with the S.C. Department of Transportation.