ONLY ON 2: Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano discusses goals, spending

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano sat down for an exclusive interview with News 2 to talk about some of her upcoming goals for the agency this year and how some of the initiatives are being paid for. One of the biggest priorities for Sheriff Graziano is working to make the agency more bilingual.

Sheriff Graziano hopes an internal and external review of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office will build a stronger relationship between her agency and the community it serves. The Sheriff says becoming more bilingual is important because language has been an issue in the past as diversity in the local community continues to grow.

A growing challenge of communication between CCSO Deputies and a diversifying community, has in some cases led to a gap of faith in the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office for some. It’s something Sheriff Graziano is focused on changing.

“There’s that lack of trust for sure and we can’t do our job,” says Sheriff Graziano.

Sheriff Kristin Graziano says some have avoided dialing 9-1-1 for help in the past due to the lack of trust or inability to community with those responding to calls. In hopes of making a change, the Sheriff’s Office has contracted Mila Consulting, LLC to review internal and external communications and policies. After the multiphase study, the firm will develop training, changes and plans for the office to make to close the gaps.

“What the needs are in the community, what their (deputy’s) needs are to do their job in the community in these low English or limited English speaking communities and how we can do better,” says Sheriff Graziano.

One of the first orders of business is the internal assessment of communication amongst deputies and staff. Phase 2 will include an external review before gathering public input, conducting trainings and drafting a findings report. The findings will be used to create a language access plan to improve communication.

Sheriff Graziano says the agency will overhaul communication with the public. Some of the ways they plan to do that include redesigning CCSO’s website and implementing ways to make it easier for non-English speakers to call for help.

“People that are limited English speaking can actually push a button and have contact with us and get a response rather than calling 9-1-1,” says Sheriff Graziano.

The contract for the consulting firm on the project is estimated to cost just under $15,000, paying Mila Consulting firm three separate payments of $4,995 on March 31st, July 30th and August 31st. The contract is among some expenditures by the Sheriff that have been criticized recently including thousands to build a recording studio used by CCSO and for community engagement. The Sheriff’s Office also recently purchased new conference room furniture. The three projects combined are estimated to have cost tens of thousands of dollars. Sheriff Graziano defended the decision saying the projects are being used to better the agency and improve community engagement.

“It was within my budget and it was actually within two budgets,” says Sheriff Graziano. “And we kept the other table and gave it to the Detention Center or we would’ve bought them a new one but we decided to do this. This is our community table and I’m proud of it.”

The changes and goals, are all part of a hope to build stronger trust while closing community gaps. The projects are a work in progress for the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s going to take time, we know that it’s going to be thorough and we’re going to get an honest assessment of what we need,” says Sheriff Graziano.

The Sheriff’s Office is currently in phase one of the project, there’s no current timeline for phase two to start. The contract with Mila Consulting is set to expire on September 20th, 2022, Sheriff Graziano is hopeful the assessments will be complete by the start of fall.