Charleston County sheriff meets with city officials to discuss public safety initiatives

CHARLESTON, S.C (WCBD) – Charleston’s city and county officials met with newly sworn-in Sheriff Carl Ritchie on Thursday.

On Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, El Jefe hosted local law enforcement for a lunch while they got to meet Ritchie officially. The Charleston County sheriff was sworn in on Jan. 7, earlier this week. Ritchie met with the city’s mayor and police chief about some public safety initiatives.

“Obviously anything that has to do with gun violence that’s going on. When you look at that, it doesn’t just happen in one jurisdiction. It effects all of us and we can say that about some of the other crimes too – the break-ins, the burglaries. You find out that crime doesn’t stop at a jurisdictional line,” Ritchie said. “It’s great when we have this kind of relationship, we can work together and make a difference in all of our communities.”

Ritchie brings experience as he served as Mount Pleasant’s police chief and was on the Mount Pleasant town council. From there he was able to have a well-established relationship with the city, which is what leaders look forward to continuing.

“In general, just collaboration, relationships, and making sure we’re communicating. That’s the biggest portion especially with some of the things we are dealing with across the nation right now. It’s very important for us all of us to be talking and communicating,” Chito Walker, chief of Charleston Police Department, said.

Along with cracking down on crime and instilling strong communication, the leaders are also going to help with the city’s unhoused population.

“The issues we are going to work closely on are the unhoused. Making sure that we work with that population in a productive way,” William Cogswell, mayor of the City of Charleston, said. “I think the sheriff has some great ideas on that and again looking forward to working closely with him.”