Detention Officers Responsible for More Than Housing Prisoners

PHOTO BY JAY KING

Inspecting a piece of new equipment used to gain quick access to locked doors, Spartanburg County Detention Sgt. G.T. Leonard explains that he and Sgt. Licurs serve on the county SWAT team as well as being the team's quartermasters. Pictured here is the SWAT trailer, which is kept ready to go behind the main detention facility.

Most people who give any thought to what the officers who work at the county jail do every week believe that the job is simply a matter of keeping inmates in line and behind bars until they are released or they go to court. In fact, this is only part of the responsibilities of Spartanburg County Detention Facility officers.

Anyone who has had any reason to go to the county courthouse in recent years has undoubtedly come across the officers manning the security checkpoints at each entrance. A detention officer mans each one of these posts, and as Sgt. Richard Seay explains, the courthouse is only one of several buildings his detail is responsible for securing.

Seay has spent decades in law enforcement and says that given the public's heightened awareness of security concerns, virtually no one complains about the slight delays caused by the security searches at entrance checkpoints.

"The people here in the courthouse appreciate us - certainly the employees do," Seay says as he points out one of the most heavily used checkpoints in the building. Officer Dorothea Long is manning the post, and as visitors come through the door to the parking area she calmly asks to search each person to come through.

Long says that she has been in law enforcement for 28 years and that working courthouse security is never dull.

Seay also explains that detention officers in his detail are responsible for the physical security of each courtroom.

"Our officers keep order in the court," Seay says. "We don't allow talking or cell phones, and if the judge orders someone into custody, we handle that."

One of the things that is noticeably different between detention officers working the courthouse and those working at the jail is courthouse officers carry weapons. As Sgt. G.T. Leonard - the detention facility's training officer - explains, the presence of weapons in close proximity to prisoners, some of whom have just received sentences they're not happy with, makes for potentially more danger for officers.

Leonard explains that this is one thing that he emphasizes in his training and adds that even after officers have gone through their initial training, he will periodically test them on their situational awareness and weapon-retention training. He says that when he does this he will sometimes come up behind an officer and make a grab for their gun, even if they're not carrying one at the time.

"I worry about that a lot with an officer out there getting complacent and having an inmate go for their gun," Leonard says. "I like for them to remain security conscious."

Leonard says that this is of particular relevance for officers working the courthouse and operations and transport because they all carry weapons. Given the variable nature of what an officer may be doing on any given day, Leonard says. That's why it's important for the officers to carry their duty weapons and also to be vigilant in retaining control of that weapon at all times.

"That's why we're all armed because from day to day we don't know what we'll be doing," Leonard says. "We're one of the few places in the state where everyone's armed."

Along with Sgt. Leonard, Sgt. Brian Licurs is based out of the old jail behind the courthouse and is responsible for day-to-day operations and the transport of inmates. He says that in an average week his officers will transport and temporarily house between 50 and 80 inmates who are appearing in court.

Contrary to the current detention facility, the old jail is probably like what most people envision when they think of "jail," with heavy iron doors, bars on all the cells and a cramped booking area. The place smells something like the interior of an aging battleship and loooks rather like it , too, with gray-painted metal at every turn.

Licurs explains that the old jail is used to temporarily house inmates awainting a court appearance and also as short-term space when there is overflow from the main detention facility. He adds that most days are busy with the constant coming and going of officers escorting inmates to and from court as well as other officers transporting inmates to places like doctor's and dentist's appointments.

Because of its immediate proximity to the courthouse, while the main facility is more than two miles away, the old jail is likely to be used for the foreseeable future, Licurs says, and adds that this is why the county is spending money to perform some needed renovations like re-roofing the building and upgrading the heating and air system.

"As long as the courthouse is here, this jail will be here," Licurs says.

Although each sergeant is responsible for different details - Leonard for training and Licurs for operations and transport - both officers are members of the Spartanburg County SWAT team. What most people don't realize is that the detention facility is responsible for the care and distribution of the SWAT team's equipment; in other words they serve as quartermasters for the team.

Leonard says that he and Licurs are on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week due to their roles on the SWAT team. During an inspection of the SWAT trailer behind the main detention facility, Leonard says that he and Licurs are responsible for getting the equipment trailer to the scene of an incident where SWAT has been called in. They then issue the necessary equipment and one of them goes forward with the team to help coordinate any needs for additional support and equipment.

Leonard also says that part of their responsibilities on a call involves implementing the incident command system that keeps track of who's supposed to be where, while maintaining an overall view of the situation.

"It's a well-thought out procedure with safety being our number one concern," Leonard says. "We don't want innocent bystanders hurt or our officers, and we also don't want the suspect to be hurt if at all possible."

Whether it's racing out in the wee hours of the morning to get the SWAT team the equipment it needs to do the job, transporting inmates to places all over the county and state, or making sure the safety of the courthouse and other county buildings is maintained, detention officers are professional law enforcement officer, just as sheriff's deputies or municipal police officers are, though they often get overlooked by both the public and the media. But as Leonard explains the importance and value of the job detention officers have to do every day, he's still able to joke about his chosen profession and poke fun at the stereotypes.

"We always joke that we're the second-oldest profession, with prostitution being first," Leonard says. "You will always have to have someone to lock people up."

(This is the second article in a series in which Hometown News will profile the personnel and responsibilities of the Spartanburg County Detention Facility)