►
Description
Chief Charles Barranco, Captain Phil Kestin, and former ADPS Cheif Carrol Busbee discuss the origins of Aiken's Department of Public Safety, its growth to a nationally accredited operation, and its impact in the community.
A
Welcome
to
Aiken
this
week,
I'm
Glen
Parker.
Today
our
show
is
going
to
focus
on
are
akin
Public,
Safety
Department
joining
us
today,
or
the
city's
director
of
public
safety,
Charles
Barranco,
former
chief
Carol
Busby
and
lieutenant
Phil
keston
chief.
Why
don't
you
start
us
off
against
a
little
bit?
Just
tell
us
about
the
overall
concept
of
Public
Safety
and
how
it's
different
from
a
regular
fire
department
or
a
police
department
that
we
normally
see
Thank.
B
You
Glen
for
having
us
today
we're
we're
excited
to
brag
a
little
bit
about
Public
Safety
Public
Safety
is
really
not
a
new
concept.
Grosse
pointe
shores,
michigan
in
1911,
was
the
first
public
safety
department
in
america,
and
so
it's
it's
had
many
different
iterations
public
safety
tip.
Typically,
is
the
sharing
of
resources
and
cross
training
of
personnel
to
provide
a
service
to
a
community.
B
We
also
throw
in
medical
first
responder
training
into
that,
so
our
public
safety
officers
are
policemen,
firemen
and
medical
first
responders.
So
that
means
they
have
to
be
fully
trained
as
a
police
officer
fully
trained
as
a
firefighter
and
then
the
medical
part
training,
that's
not
to
rise
the
level
of
EMT
but
basic
first
aid
and
use
of
an
AED
and
oxygen.
B
B
A
C
Aiken
has
always
been
a
community
of
real
concern
as
far
as
people
of
people
they
were
concerned.
The
people
of
a
Cano
have
always
supported
the
city
vacant
services
and
back
in
the
fifties,
we
were
trying
to
better
our
fire
rate
here
in
the
city
vacan,
to
return
some
revenue
back
to
our
citizens
to
law
and
their
fire
insurance
rates,
and
at
that
time
our
city
manager
was
harding
hughes
who
come
from
north
carolina
and
in
north
carolina.
C
They
were
a
couple
of
departments
up
there
that
had
gone
to
the
public
safety
concept
and
he
brought
up
the
issue
before
council
and
council
felt
like
it
would
be
a
good
thing
for
us
to
consider.
So
in
the
50s
we
started
training
our
police
officers
as
firefighters
to
supplement
our
forces.
As
far
as
the
fire
department
was
concerned,
and
this
program
went
on
for
about
three
years
and
then
we
started
thinking
not
only
about
the
our
personnel
but
thinking
about
a
facility
that
could
be
totally
public
safety
as
far
as
the
facilities
are
concerned.
C
C
But
our
patrol
cars
are
out
there
all
the
time
covering
the
entire
city,
and
if
we
have
an
emergency
who's
going
to
be
there
first,
the
one
that's
the
closest.
So
we
wanted
to
make
sure
that
the
one
was
a
closest
was
a
public
safety
officer
who
could
size
up
a
situation
and
determine
what
was
needed
called
back
to
the
station
and
the
fire
equipment
responding
and
let
them
know
what
we
had.
C
So
the
people
of
Aiken
supported
it
and
the
people
that
worked
a
job
really
love
to
do
it,
and
the
old
adage
is
that
we
used
to
have
20
people
that
can
do
one
thing
in
10
that
can
do
a
different
thing.
Now
we
have
30
that
can
do
it
all.
So
that's
been
our
goal
and
I
think
the
results
of
it
has
been
just
tremendous
and
what
made
it
work
was
the
people
that
did
the
job
and
a
citizens
that
supported
it.
You.
C
A
B
We
have
had
several
meetings
about
public
safety
and
he's
amazed
at
how
well
it
works
here,
one
of
the
first
things
we
did.
He
got
to
sit
down
with
chief
Busby
and
talk
to
him
about
those
growing
pains,
but
mr.
Klem
some
concerns,
were
you
know,
a
major
event
preparedness
and
through
working
with
him
and
showing
showing
him
our
resources
and
talking
with
other
agencies
around
us,
I
think
he
has
come
to
see
that
we
are
prepared
for
any
situation.
B
B
It's
we,
you
know
Chief
Busbee
talked
in
originally
we
were
a
very
true
public
safety
department
that
every
public
safety
officer
did
all
this
multitude
of
things.
One
of
the
things
that
he
did
mention
is
that
we
were
actually
driver
operators
of
the
fire
trucks
at
one
time
and
so
through
analyzing
and
trying
to
see
where
the
dollars
are
going
and
serving
our
citizens.
B
The
iteration
that
we're
at
now
is,
of
course,
our
public
safety
officers
are
still
cross
trained,
police
and
fire
and
medical
first
responder,
but
we
do
have
some
driver
operators
dedicated
to
getting
the
fire
apparatus
to
the
scene,
and
so
the
patrol
officers
or
the
public
safety
officers
out
on
the
street
or
act
as
our
firefighters
and
we
have
people
assigned
to
take
care
and
maintenance
the
equipment
and
then
respond
the
equipment
and
operate
it
at
the
fire
scene.
Okay,.
A
B
B
People
right
out
of
college
somebody
that's
getting
new
into
the
field,
somebody
that
is
really
looking
to
you
know
maybe
get
into
law
enforcement.
But
this
is
an
opportunity
to
you
know
get
in,
but
they're
also
going
to
learn
to
be
a
fireman
as
well
and
I'm.
An
example
of
that
and
I
got
in
the
public
safety
in
early
90s
and
with
the
intent
of
my
goal,
was
to
be
a
police
officer
but
fell
in
love
with
the
fireside
and
saw
how
it
does
take
that
special
person
to
become
a
public
safety
officer.
Well,.
A
In
the
next
couple
of
weeks,
we're
going
to
do
a
show
where
we're
going
to
talk
with
some
of
your
employees
about
hiring
and
training
and
recruitment
and
those
kind
of
things
so
we'll
get
a
little
bit
more
in
depth
into
what
they're.
Looking
for
in
a
public
safety
officer,
what
you've
mentioned
a
couple
of
them.
But
what
are
the
benefits?
Last
night
you
guys
had
to
respond
to
a
fire
I
believe
that's
right.
B
Benefits
of
serving
the
citizens
when
I
use
the
example
of
a
broken
water
line
when,
when
the
citizen
calls
dispatch
and
needs
some
assistant
with
a
broken
water
line,
not
all
the
time
as
a
police
officer
equipped
to
be
able
to
handle
that,
but
because
of
the
education
process
through
the
fire
service
that
Public
Safety
Officer
can
help
them
cut
their
water
off
or
whatever
it
may
be.
An
accidents.
Another
example
when
we
respond
to
an
accident
you
know
a
typical
job
of
a
police
officer
is
to
secure
the
scene
and
get
traffic
flowing.
B
As
with
our
fire
training.
We're
able
to
look
at
make
sure
there's
not
any
issues
with
the
car
that
may
become
a
fire
hazard.
Also
with
the
medical
first
responder
training.
We
can
offer
some
first
aid
so
getting
that
person
to
the
scene
quickly
to
be
able
to
assess
the
situation
and
then
pass
that
information
on
to
others.
It
can
think
fair
care
for
the
person.
Okay,.
B
Point
we
do
have
some
challenges:
I
just
talked
about
training.
All
this
extra
training
is
a
benefit
but
I
believe
it's
a
challenge
as
well,
because
a
new
person
coming
in
to
public
safety
as
a
public
safety
officer
it
takes
about
a
year
to
get
them
fully
trained
and
out
there
on
the
road
serving
the
citizens.
So
there's
a
there's,
an
upfront
cost
to
that,
and
so
that
is
one
of
the
challenges.
B
A
Of
a
challenge
recently,
City
Council
passed
a
height
restriction,
I,
guess
or
limited,
reduce
the
height
restriction
in
downtown
for
the
hotel,
that's
coming
into
town
there's
some
concern
that
Public
Safety
is
gonna,
have
a
difficult
time
with
that.
How
are
you
guys
equipped,
and
is
that
going
to
be
a
challenge
for
Public
Safety?
Well,.
B
You
know
there's
buildings
and
aiken
that
are
already
taller
than
what
the
expected
height
of
this
new
building
is.
We
trained
for
that
hospital
is
an
example
of
that
we're
familiar
with
the
area
in
those
taller
buildings.
They
build
areas
of
refuge,
for
you
know
occupants
to
be
able
to
respond
to
then
we're
able
to
get
them
out
if,
if
necessary,
along
with
the
building
codes,
sprinkler
systems
and
stand
pipe
systems
will
assist
us
and
keeping
that
safe,
very.
A
D
Well,
my
title
is
administrative
captain,
some
over
the
administrative
division
and
the
functions
in
the
administrative
division,
our
records
bureau,
the
communication
center,
the
training
function,
the
hiring
practices
and
one
of
the
main
components,
one
of
them.
One
of
my
most
important
jobs
is
maintaining
standards
in
the
department,
so
I'm
the
accreditation
manager
or
the
named
accreditation
manager
of
the
department.
D
We've
been
accredited
since
1998
as
the
first
time
we
were
credit
so
about
17
years
and
were
accredited
by
Kalia.
The
Commission
on
Accreditation
of
law
enforcement
agencies,
which
is
a
national
organization
and
that's
their
sole
purpose,
is
to
go
around
in
the
credit
law
enforcement
agencies,
dispatch,
centers
academies
things
like
that,
but
they
have
a
have
a
full-time
staff,
very
small
full-time
staff,
but
a
full-time
staff
that
assists
agencies
with
maintaining
their
accreditation,
documentation,
answering
questions
about
interpretation
of
standards
and
things
of
that
nature.
Okay,.
A
D
Thanks
for
bringing
that
up
when
the
commissioners
look
at
an
agency,
the
way
that's
the
way
the
process
works.
Is
you
have
an
on-site
assessment
on
a
regular
interval
and
the
commissioners
select
someone
who
you're
not
familiar
with
from
out
of
state?
So
you
never
know
who's
coming.
We
know
the
general
period
of
time
when
they'll
come,
but
we
never
know
when
they're
going
to
show
up,
and
we
don't
know
who
they
are.
D
So
the
commissioners
will
select
somewhere
from
out
of
state
and
they'll,
send
you
in
for
an
on-site
assessment
and
when
the
Assessors
come
on
site
and
they
perform
that
assessment,
they're
doing
it
according
to
brackets
of
accreditation,
so
the
basic
accreditation,
basic
law
enforcement
accreditation
they're.
Looking
at
about
a
hundred
and
eighty
standards
of
compliance
that
you
have
to
meet
we're
actually
advanced
accreditations
about
closer
to
500
standards
that
we
have
to
meet.
So
that's
one
of
the
criteria
for
being
recognized
accreditation
with
excellence.
D
Is
that
we're
not
involved
in
the
basic
program
we're
involved
in
the
advanced
program?
The
other
thing
they
look
at
is
that
it
can't
be
your
first
accreditation.
They
want
to
make
sure
you
have
at
least
two
prior
accreditation
achievements
before
you're,
even
considered
for
accreditation
with
excellence
and
then
there's
issues.
D
Some
agencies
will
be
accredited
as
the
commissioners
come
in
or
as
the
Assessors
come
in
and
take
a
look
at
what
you're
doing
and
they
see
you're
having
difficulty
making
achieving
a
with
a
certain
standard
and
they'll
say
well
credit
you,
in
a
conditional
manner
for
the
next
six
months,
we're
going
to
come
back
in
six
months
and
see
how
you're
doing
towards
meeting
this.
So
you
can't
have
any
of
those
issues
hanging
out
there
to
be
accredited
with
excellence.
So
it's
really
a
super
clean
accreditation
process.
D
They
have
to
come
in
and
see
that
everything
went
well
when
they're
assessing
you
on
the
on-site
have
to
have
a
good
review,
a
good
report
from
the
Assessors
who
showed
up
and
looked
at
you
and
you
have
to
use
what
they
call
the
new
gold
standard
of
assessment.
So
they
assess
errs,
are
not
coming
in
they're.
D
Simply
looking
at
your
files
and
paper
documentation,
they
spend
most
of
their
time
with
your
citizens
and
with
your
employees
and
with
your
HR
department,
and
the
people
at
the
department
has
contact
with
and
the
way
they
refer
to
it
as
we're
looking
at
processes
and
outcomes.
So
what
types
of
processes
you
have
to
create
and
what
were
the
outcomes
of
these
processes
that
you
created?
Did
it
turn
out
good
turn
out
bad
if
it
turned
out
bad?
D
A
D
Would
hope
so
I
would
hope.
So
you
never
know
what
can
happen
over
time.
There's
a
lot
of
financial
commitments
that
are
required
to
maintain
accreditation.
So
there's
budgetary
requirements,
things
like
evidence,
storage
things
like
education,
reimbursement.
Those
are
all
things
that
the
Commission
looks
at
and
if
there
are
budgetary
issues
where
we're
not
able
to
maintain
some
of
those
requirements,
there's
a
possibility
that
maybe
we
won't
be
your
credit
with
excellence,
but
of
course,
that'll
be.
The
goal
is
to
always
achieve
accreditation
with
excellence.
D
What
you
think,
oh,
that
might
be
a
little
easier
to
maintain,
but
if
they
go
to
that
process,
what
they're
going
to
do
is
look
at
twenty-five
percent
of
your
standards
every
year
from
a
remote
location
and
then
simply
show
up
every
fourth
year
and
do
an
on-site
again
when
they
talk
to
the
people.
So
you
never
know
which
twenty-five
percent
of
the
stand
they're
going
to
look
at
from
off-site,
and
you
never
know
you
know
who
are
they
going
to
talk
to
when
they
come
here?
D
A
D
That's
a
good
question
too.
Accreditation
addresses
all
aspects
of
law
enforcement
operations,
so
we've
seen
changes
in
little
little
changes
in
a
lot
of
the
operations
that
we
do
so
one
one
example
is
evidence:
storage
when
they
came
in
initially
1998
officers
would
drop
evidence
into
an
old
decommissioned
mailbox
and
it
would
be
in
a
location
at
the
end
of
their
tour
of
duty
in
this
mailbox
in
a
secure
part
of
the
building
or
in
evidence,
custodian
would
come
in
the
next
morning.
Well,
not
everything
fits
in
a
in
a
mailbox,
you
know.
D
Sometimes
you
might
recover
a
stolen
bicycle
or
you
might
recover
a
lawn
mower
or
something
like
that
and
the
procedures
we
were
using
is
we
would
put
in
what
we
thought
was
a
secure
area
of
the
building,
allow
the
evidence
technician
to
come
in
in
the
morning
and
lock
it
up
for
us,
and
that
was
something
that
the
commissioner
said:
hey,
no,
that's
not
good
enough.
You
need
a
place
by
the
end
of
the
tour
of
duty
where
that
person's
property
is
properly
secured.
It's
tagged
in
case
they
come
up.
D
We
know
that
the
entire
time
it's
been
in
the
possession
of
the
department,
it's
been
in
a
safe
location,
so
we
had
to
purchase
land
purchase,
fencing.
We
purchased
a
special
set
of
lockers
to
be
dropping
evidence
for
officers
at
the
end
of
a
tour
duties.
That's
just
one
example:
there's
constant
changes
to
the
process
of
accreditation.
Some
of
the
more
recent
changes
or
demands
they
put
on
the
department's
is
that
we
need
policy
on
military
deployment,
so
law
enforcement
officers
and
military
or
symbiotic
they
work
together.
It
attracts
the
same
type
of
people.
D
We
have
several
people
who
are
under
the
reserves
or
the
National
Guard
and
they
get
deployed.
Well,
you
know
the
challenges
that
creates,
if
you
have
an
officer,
has
been
deployed
for
12
months
or
14
months
or
16
months.
So
there's
policy
now
that
they've
had
us
create
about
how
you
out
process
a
person
going
to
deployment,
how
you
make
sure
that
they're
I
don't
have
any
psychological
trauma
when
they
return
that
you
process
them
back
in
through
psychological
means
and
making
sure
that
they're
being
provided
with
the
help
that
they
might
need
to
them.
D
To
come
back
up
to
speed,
they'll
make
sure
that
we
have
contact
with
them
and
their
families
while
they're
deployed.
So
they
know,
what's
going
on
in
the
department,
they're
not
coming
back
cold
like
a
new
employee.
So
there's
just
a
lot
of
changes
that
occur
and
it
never
stops
and
we
don't
expect
it
to
ever.
Stop
we're.
A
A
D
One
thing
it
does
it:
accreditation
is
not
a
requirement
in
law
enforcement
like
a
hospital
or
a
school,
where
you
probably
wouldn't
go
to
one
of
those
locations.
That's
not
accredited
accreditation
is
a
voluntary
commitment
from
a
police
department
to
put
an
additional
set
of
standards
on
yourself,
so
you're
voluntarily
saying
we're
going
to
meet
these
additional
standards,
and
it's
not
common.
D
It's
only
about
four
percent
of
law
enforcement
in
the
United
States
is
accredited
by
Kalia
so
of
the
seventeen
or
eighteen
thousand
agencies
there's
only
about
600
in
the
whole
country
who
are
accredited
and
the
reason
that
we
do.
That
is
because
we
want
to
be
the
best.
We
want
to
be
the
most
professional
organization
we
can
be,
and
we
want
that
guideline
or
that
framework
that
accreditation
provides
you
as
you're,
trying
to
figure
out
your
process
or
your
operational
guidelines.
D
We
know
if
we
meet
a
set
of
national
standards
that
we're
doing
better
than
if
we
don't
have
that
guideline
or
that
framework
to
work
off
of,
and
we
don't
always
get
everything
right,
we're
not
perfect.
We
make
mistakes,
but
we
know
we
have
a
process
in
place
to
address
that
operational
issue,
and
we
know
we
have
a
process
in
place
to
make
it
better
if
things
don't
work
out
like
they're
supposed
to.
So
that's
what
it
is.
It's
a
commitment
to
the
citizens.
There
is
some
financial
benefit
to
it.
D
Agencies
like
Municipal
Association,
who
helps
do
some
of
our
insurance
there's
a
multiplier.
They
ask
us
are
unicredit
agency
and
they
reduce
the
multiplier,
which
is
how
they
calculate
what
your
insurance
costs.
So
there
is
some
financial
benefit
to
it.
The
employees
who
work
for
the
city
in
a
work
for
Public
Safety,
there's
a
listing
or
policy
or
a
guideline
on
most
personnel
practices,
so
promotions,
disciplinary
action,
terminations,
hiring
recruitment,
all
that's
covered
in
a
policy
and
is
performed
in
a
uniform
manner
over
the
entire
time.
We
do
those
activities
year
to
year.
D
So
if
an
employee's
trying
to
figure
out
what
am
I
eligible
for
employment
or
oh
I,
made
a
mistake
and
I
know
I'm
going
to
have
disciplinary
action,
how
was
that
handled?
All
that
is
listed
in
the
booklet
form
it's
in
the
policy
manual.
It's
in
the
employee
handbook
it's
somewhere
where
they
can
go.
Look
it
up.
So
it's
just
a
very
consistent
professional
environment
to
work
in
good.
A
Very
good
chief,
we
got
a
little
bit
of
time.
Let
me
ask
you
about
mutual
aid
agreements.
You
guys
work
closely
with
the
Sheriff's
Department
locally
city
of
north
augusta,
that's
obvious,
but
sitting
in
city
council
meetings,
there
have
been
some
mutual
aid
agreement
signed
with
different
agencies.
What's
that
all
about
who
do
you
have
those
with
some
of
the
ones?
Well,.
B
Typically,
what
we
have
found
and
we've
again
this
has
been
a
process
to
we
used
to
have
mutual
aid
agreements
with
counties
all
over
the
state.
But
now
we
have
limited
to
just
the
counties
that
border
Aiken,
County
and
and
then
within
a
kinky.
So
if
we
need,
if
they
need
assistance,
let's
say
in
Horry
County
for
a
hurricane
or
something
they
or
accountant
would
send
it
out
to
Aiken,
County
and
then
Aiken
County.
Would
it
asks
us
and
we
would
still
be
covered
under
those
guidelines.
B
A
B
You
know:
I
worked
at
the
sheriff's
office
for
a
short
period
of
time,
sheriff
hunt,
work,
break
in
public
safety
for
a
time,
and
so
the
relationship
is,
is
wonderful,
chief
buzz
be
raised
us
all
through
the
and
and
that
spirit
of
cooperative
cooperative
serving
of
the
citizens
is
extended
every
day.
The
guys
on
the
street
feel
it
the
administrators
feel
it
so
really.
The
bottom
line
is
that
cooperator
should
be
there
to
better
serve
our
citizens.
Ok,.
A
Chief
Mosby
you,
when
you
retired,
as
the
Public
Safety
Director
I,
guess
you
got
tired
of
fishing.
You
came
back
to
the
city
a
little
bit,
so
you've
been
around
and
sort
of
watched,
Public,
Safety,
Department
you've
stayed
sort
of
close
to
what
do
you
see
going
on
with
Public
Safety
today?
What's
your
thoughts
on
it,
I.
C
D
C
These
men
and
women
I've
two
on
the
street,
are
asked
to
perform.
So
many
task
and
they're
also
put
in
the
danger
zone
on
a
run
bases
and
we've
lost
some
folks
and
doing
their
job
and
it's
those
were
family
members
and
their
family
is
part
of
the
Public
Safety
family.
So
I
see
us
being
a
group
of
people
that
love
to
do
their
job
and
loves
the
citizens
that
they
do
it
for
and
in
return
we've
seen
the
citizens
come
to
us
and
appreciate
what
happens.
C
You
know
and
then
I
look
at
public
safety
as
being
very
advantageous
for
the
whole
city,
because
the
city
is
also
family.
You
know
when
public
works
need
some
guys
to
help
them
keep
the
traffic
off
of
them,
so
they
can
get
a
hole
dug
or
treat
cleared
who's
there
doing
it.
Then,
when
we
get
in
trouble
and
we
need
something
from
them,
it's
an
automatic
response,
so
I'm,
very
proud
of
where
we
are
I'm,
proud
of
our
community
where
it's
at
we,
we
obtained
some
wonderful
goals.
C
A
B
Well,
we
must
continue
to
grow
with
the
city.
First
of
all,
you
know:
we've
we
launched
a
conceived
communities
several
years
ago
and
that
continues
to
grow
at
first,
it
was
focused
on
the
violent
offenders,
and
now
we've
moved
on
to
a
cooperative
effort
with
the
schools
and
akin
safe
schools.
We
have
plans
to
move
forward
with
businesses
safe
businesses,
our
next,
our
next
focus
on
the
criminal
side
of
it
is
going
to
be
with
our
new
domestic
violence
law
and
how
we
can
sort
of
change.
B
We
can't
do
this
by
ourselves.
We're
public
servants
and
our
job
is
to
keep
people
safe,
but
if
we
don't
have
that
relationship
and
know
what
the
needs
of
the
community
are,
we're
not
able
to
do
that
by
ourselves
and
so
having
their
input
on
our
policies
and
our
practices
that
we
that
we
have
currently
and
how
we
can
make
that
better
is
really
I.
Think
how
we
get
to
the
future
with
our
community
very.