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Stories Archive

National Crime Victims Rights Week: How the SC Highway Patrol Victim Services Unit is a voice for the voiceless

On a shelf in Crystal Salley’s office sits a candle decorated with a photo of four smiling children — all siblings, and all of them killed in a…

Saving lives, and helping others turn their lives around: STP officer says he's just 'doing what I should be doing'

Master Officer Don Turner has never expected a pat on the back. Not for lugging boxes of soft drinks as a delivery driver for Pepsi, for taking drunk…

Womens History Month: ‘I hope it paves the way for other women,’ SCHP’s first female captain says of service

Major Tara Craig never took offense to being called “Sir” during a traffic stop or collision investigation. She chuckled when the person realized…

‘Honor has no expiration date’: Greenville County highway renamed for SCHP trooper killed in 1950

Two worn trooper badges and a folded American flag are among the only things Brenda Sealy Sumner has to remember the father she never knew. She was…

‘I have to help people’: Retiring BPS officer ponders what’s next after 27 years of protecting, serving, and comforting

Over the past 27 years, Master Officer Chris Kirkpatrick has helped protect some of the most powerful leaders in South Carolina: From legislators at…

From the roadside to the classroom, SC trooper takes education to a new level as a substitute teacher

Every South Carolina state trooper plays an important role in the education of the public. But Corporal William Safford takes it a step further — by…

From typewriters to smartphones: SCHP’s Patricia Sloan reflects on 37 years at Troop 1 HQ

Thirty-seven years may seem like a long time to get up and go work at the same place every day. But for Patricia Sloan — who saw the Highway Patrol…

‘I thought I was already dead’: STP officer makes inspiring comeback after rare, deadly lung disease

Master Officer Tyrone Williams knows he shouldn’t be here — not after a bout with Legionnaires’ Disease that plunged him into a coma for two weeks,…

‘I must have done something right’: SCHP trooper who guarded three governors retires after 22 years

Very few people have the huge opportunity — and responsibility — of protecting the lives of the governor and the first family. For 22 years, Captain…

SCHP’s Debbie Gillis says goodbye after 15 years as Colonel’s right-hand woman

When Debbie Gillis first applied for a position at the SC Highway Patrol in 2009, she already had four decades of work experience under her belt and…