SLED 1935-1947

Editions of The South Carolina Legislative Manual for the years 1944 through 1974 have the following entry for SLED:

S. C. Law Enforcement Division

(State Constabulary)

Office 119-120 Calhoun Office Bldg., Tel. 2-5609

Created by Act 232 of the Acts of 1935 and approved May 14, 1935, for the purpose of enforcing the State Liquor Law as passed by the General Assembly of 1935, and to assist any Law Enforcement Officer in the detection of crime and the enforcement of any criminal laws of the State of South Carolina.

1944 was the first edition in which SLED was included. Editions from 1975 onward have the following entry for SLED:

Law Enforcement Division, S. C.

Broad River Rd., Box 21398, Columbia, 29221

Tel. 758-2461

The State Law Enforcement Division was created by Executive Order of the Governor in 1947 to replace the State Constabulary which had been for many years the investigative arm of the Governors of the State. It was organized and is maintained by the Governor to render manpower and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies of the political subdivisions of the State and to conduct such investigations as he feels necessary and appropriate in order to best safeguard the interest of the people of the State. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was created as a State Agency by Act 1240, 1974.

In order to determine whether SLED was created in 1935 or 1947, the author attempted to locate the Executive Order. On January 13, 2015, the curator of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History informed the author that the Department was not in possession of the document.

The author then conducted a thorough in-person search of the archives at the Strom Thurmond Institute, the official repository of Thurmond's papers located at Clemson University. The author nor the archivists were able to locate the Executive Order, nor any document that referred to the Executive Order. The archivist followed up with an email dated January 20, 2015:

"According to the Legislative Manual, South Carolina 1946 on page 231, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (State Constabulary) was "created by Act 232 of the Acts of 1935 and approved May 14, 1935, for the purpose of enforcing the State Liquor Law as passed by the General Assembly of 1935, and to assist any Law Enforcement Officer in detection of crime and the enforcement of any criminal laws of the State of South Carolina. This information is repeated again on page 194 of the Legislative Manual, South Carolina, 1947. SLED was not created by a 1947 Executive Order by Governor Strom Thurmond."

Laurie Varenhorst

Archivist

Special Collections Library

Strom Thurmond Institute Building

Box 343001

Clemson University

Clemson, S.C. 29534-3001

The author then filed a Freedom of Information request with SLED for the Executive Order or any related documents. In a letter dated January 23, 2015, the SLED Public Information Office stated that "SLED is not in possession of the documents requested."

The author then conducted searches of various digital archives and discovered that the FBI Bulletin dated November 1957, Volume 26, Number 11, contains an article written by J. P. Strom, the Chief of SLED from 1956 to 1987. He wrote, in part, that:

"The State Law Enforcement Division was created by an act of the South Carolina General Assembly in 1935 for the purposes of enforcing the State liquor law and to assist any law enforcement officer in the detection of crime and the enforcement of any criminal laws in the State of South Carolina."

Contemporaneous press accounts indicate that Governor Olin D. Johnston appointed J. Henry Jeanes as SLED's first Chief in 1935. The following article appeared in The State newspaper on June 3, 1935:

Pelzer Man Made Division Leader

Jeanes to Head Liquor Law Enforcement Group Under Governor.

A report that J. Henry Jeanes, chief of police at Pelzer, will head the liquor law enforcement division of the state constabulary was confirmed last night by Roy A. Powell, secretary to Governor Olin D. Johnston.

Mr. Jeanes was expected to assume his official duties today and will have an office in the State House. Governor Johnston planned to announce the score or more of constables who will work under him today.

Formerly Game Warden of Anderson county, Mr. Jeanes has had long experience as a law enforcement officer.

One of his first moves will be to assign constables to strategic points over the state, at least for the present.

It was indicated by the governor's office that a special squad of six to eight constables would be based at Columbia and would reinforce others of the state staff or local law enforcement officers in liquor raids.

A follow-up article in The State listed the men hired to be the first SLED Agents: Curtis Gardner, Sam K. Miller, G.C. "Cleve" Hayes, Frankie Meyers, Roy Ashley (future Chief), Joe H. Hinton, B.C. Bethea, A.M. Lightsey, J.H. Harbin, Jr., J. D. Munn, Roland T. Clary, V.M. Kay, Charles M. Whisnant, R.F. Grice, DeWitt T. Huckabee, Manley Gregory, W.J. Thompson, W.B. Hildebrand, R.E. Griffith, Walter Poston.

Jeanes' death certificate is on file at the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. It lists his date of death as August 19, 1941, and lists his occupation as "Chief, S. C. Law Enforcement Division."

The author compiled the following information from contemporaneous newspaper articles in The State newspaper.

J. Henry Jeanes (April 21, 1891-August 19, 1941) was appointed as the first Chief of SLED by Governor Olin D. Johnston in 1935. Under his leadership, Agents made hundreds of arrests per month for alcohol and gambling violations. They also participated in manhunts, extraditions, and investigated cases of murder, arson, labor violence, civil rights violations, and many other crimes. Jeanes also served as Chief under Governor Burnet R. Maybank. He served until his sudden death in 1941 at the age of 50.

George Richard "Dick" Richardson (May 16, 1902-July 24, 1983) was appointed as the second Chief of SLED on October 1, 1941, by Governor Burnet R. Maybank. Richardson had served as a police officer, a deputy sheriff, and also as the Sheriff of Greenville County before being hired by SLED in 1939. He served as the Lieutenant in charge of SLED's Western District from May, 1940 until he was appointed Chief.

Sam J. Pratt served as the third Chief of SLED from 1942-1943, appointed by Governor J. E. Harley. Pratt was a former school teacher from Due West. After his tenure as Chief, Pratt served as a SLED Lieutenant until 1946 when he was appointed to be the Chief Investigator with the S. C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. He served in that capacity until 1971, when Governor John C. West named him Chairman of the Commission.

"Dick" Richardson served as the Chief of SLED for a second time from 1946-1947. For clarity, he is also referred to as the fourth Chief. He later served as the Superintendent of the State Penetentiary and went on to become an aide to US Senator Burnet Maybank.

Joel D. Townsend served as the fifth Chief of SLED from 1947-1949. In the 1920's Townsend served as a Deputy US Marshal. He then became a member of the "First Class" of the SC Highway Patrol when it was established in 1930. He later served as a Special Investigator with the Highway Patrol's ID Bureau, an elite group of criminal investigators, forensics experts, and fingerprint examiners. The ID Bureau was involved in virtually every major criminal investigation in the state from its creation in 1934 onward. Townsend was a protege of the ID Bureau's founder, Lt. Leo Jenkins, who died in 1941. Lt. Townsend was in charge of the ID Bureau when the General Assembly transferred the Unit to SLED in 1947. After two years as Chief, Townsend was appointed to the State Industrial Commission, where he served until his death in 1953.

The Highway Patrol and SLED Connection

Information for this section comes from the book Leo Jenkins, The Architect of Modern Law Enforcement in South Carolina, by Buddy Wilkes, Amazon, 2012.

South Carolina was one of the last, if not the last, state to create a highway patrol. There was no driver's license law. Driving a motor vehicle was viewed by many South Carolina politicians and citizens as a civil right not to be tampered with by regulation. Horry County Representative G. Lloyd Floyd said that, if created, the Highway Patrol would consist of "about a hundred men riding up and down the highways, taking away the rights of the people." Proponents of change pointed out that in 1929 there were over 14,000 vehicle accidents and 213 traffic fatalities in the state.

Several compromises preceded the legislation. Highway Patrolmen would wear distinctive uniforms, their vehicles had to be clearly marked, and they could not set up "speed traps." They were to cooperate, not compete, with local law enforcement, and fines imposed for traffic violations would go to the county treasury where the case occurred.

The Highway Patrol was established in 1930 and was an immediate hit with the press and the public. A portion of the fee paid for a driver's license was earmarked for funding the highway patrol, making its budget scaleable and somewhat bulletproof from economic conditions. When the constabulary was disbanded in 1932 the Highway Patrol as the only state-level law enforcement agency in South Carolina. From an article in The State newspaper, February 2, 1932:

Turn in Autos

Give Up Equipment at Office of Governor

Now in Discard

Fourteen Cars Placed in Storage--Lack of Funds Brings Discontinuance.

Fourteen automobiles, part of the equipment used heretofore by the governor's constabulary, were resting quietly last night in a garage where they had been place after having been turned in by members of the force, which was disbanded yesterday. The constabulary was formed in 1893 to enforce the liquor laws. Yesterday it passed from the picture.

Faced with the prospect of virtually no appropriations for continuing the force, Governor Blackwood announced several weeks ago he would not recommission the 15 officers.

They were ordered to come to Columbia yesterday to surrender their automobiles and equipment.

At the same time the constabulary was disbanded, protests were received from several quarters at its abandonment. A letter, written by Mrs. W. L. Dunovant of Edgefield, to members of the Women's Christian Temperance union, quoted Mrs. J. L. Mims of Edgefield, state president, as protesting against the elimination of the constabulary.

When the ways and means committee was attempting to reduce appropriations, it was found that more than $50,000 could be saved through abolition of this branch of law enforcement and the appropriation subsequently was cut out of the general appropriations bill.

Although originally formed to enforce prohibition law in "dispensary days," the duties of the constabulary has been broadened in recent years.

In 1933 the FBI began an outreach program to encourage each state to have a state-level liaison with the FBI. They promoted the idea that each state should maintain a fingerprint repository and participate in communications and information-sharing with the FBI and other states.

Leo Jenkins, an original member of the Highway Patrol, had completed a correspondence course in fingerprints through the Institute of Applied Science in Chicago. He did so on his own, while convalescing from being beaten nearly to death by three escaped convicts. After several months Jenkins returned to work. Jenkins' experise in fingerprints became known, and when the FBI reached out to the Highway Patrol, the agency created the Identification Bureau and put Jenkins in charge of it.

Jenkins trained all 78 Highway Patrolmen how to fingerprint arrestees and started the first state fingerprint repository. On request, he assisted local agencies in setting up their own programs. As fingerprinting became systematized, the state repository grew exponentially and more and more crimes were solved by fingerprint comparisons.

Jenkins also set up the first state-wide information desk for law enforcement. Any officer could call in and get driver's license information as well as contact information for any other officer in the state. Jenkins also installed a teletype machine, linking the South Carolina law enforcement community to that of other states and the FBI. Wanted flyers were distributed and kept on file at the Highway Patrol so they could be rapidly searched at any time.

Local chiefs and sheriffs began requesting Jenkins' assistance at crime scenes, and then on the actual investigative work. He solved several cases right off the bat and his successes were well-publicized. The Highway Patrol added several more Special Investigators to the ID Bureau, and from about 1934 onward, Jenkins or his men were involved with virtually every high-profile criminal investigation in the state.

The ID Bureau developed into a very busy, highly trained, and highly competent group of forensics experts and criminal investigators. They were housed in a building that stood directly behind the Calhoun Building on the grounds of the State Capitol. Their offices contained state-of-the-art equipments, and Jenkins became a court-recognized expert in the fields of fingerprints, questioned documents, ballistics, and trace evidence analysis.

Lt. Leo Jenkins was so famous during this time that when his daughter was involved in a minor fender-bender it made the front page of The State newspaper. People lined up by the thousands to see Jenkins' and the ID Bureau's display at the state fair. He was a featured speaker at fraternal and civic organizations around the state, and he even addressed the LeConte Scientific Society at the University of South Carolina.

In short, the Identification Bureau was the premier state level investigative organization in the state, backed up with state-of-the-art communications, information-sharing, and was the keeper of the fast-growing and increasingly important state fingerprint repository.

Things were not going so well at SLED. Partly as a political attack on Governor Johnston, and partly out of shadowy rumors that SLED was looking the other way - or worse - when it came to certain wealthy and influential men in the liquor and gambling business, the General Assembly established the Joint Committee to Investigate Law Enforcement. In their final report, published in 1937, the Committee roundly criticized SLED but no criminal charges were filed. The report said, in part:

"...the Committee does not recommend the supplanting of local law enforcement agencies by any centralized state police system. One of the foundation pillars of the American system is local self-government...the committee recommends that the General Assembly set up a Bureau of Investigation, to be composed of a personnel of technically trained men, selected on the basis of experience and training, and not subject to political influences...Only the larger cities have available funds to employ trained detectives, fingerprint experts, etc. At present, there is only one public agency in this state which can give this aid to the counties and smaller towns, namely, the Fingerprint Bureau of the State Highway Department. There was a great need for such a bureau, and it has rendered valuable services to the state, but the Committee is of the opinion that it should be separated from the highway patrol and become part of the Bureau of Investigation...We recommend that the state constabulary and the Fingerprint Bureau of the State Highway Department be supplanted by a State Bureau of Investigation."

For over twenty years successive Governors had called for the creation of a State Police built on the models of other states, with a uniform division, an investigative bureau, and a forensics unit. The SC Sheriffs Association opposed the idea of a "state police system" out of concern that such an agency would interfere with their duties as locally-elected law enforcement officials. The Joint Committee, as seen above, recommended against such

a system, and the matter was never acted on by the General Assembly.

Meanwhile, Lt. Leo Jenkins and Chief J. Henry Jeanes, and their men, worked on numerous cases together as related by many newspaper articles of the time. The SLED and ID Bureau offices were in adjacent buildings and the two organizations became closely intertwined.

World War II stopped any effort at reorganization in its tracks. The ID Bureau and SLED shifted gears to assist the military and the FBI on gathering intelligence and screening men for military service. Lt. Jenkins died during the war, and his protege, Highway Patrolman Joel Townsend, became the supervisor of the ID Bureau.

After the war, the General Assembly passed a resolution that combined the two organizations that had been working arm-in-arm since 1935.

On March 26, 1947, Clerk of the House James E. Hunter, Jr. published a Concurrent Resolution, which reads, in part:

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO TRANSFER THE IDENTIFICATION UNIT OF THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION.

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the Identification Unit of the State Highway Patrol, including all records, personnel, equipment, and supplies now attached and assigned to said Identification Unit, be and the same is hereby transferred from the South Carolina Highway Department to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

In many ways this merger officially sanctioned the working relationship between two organizations begun by their first leaders, J. Henry Jeanes and Leo Jenkins, in 1935.

Author: Earl D. Wilkes, Jr. (Buddy), 2022. To access related documents, follow the links on the Wikipedia page for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.