Richland County Sheriff's Department


The Richland County Sheriff's Department is the agency charged with the law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Richland County, South Carolina, USA. Since 1997, the agency has been led by Sheriff Leon Lott. The RCSD employs 700 sworn deputies.

History

The RCSD was formed in 1787, two years after Richland County's formation. The first sheriff was Joel McLemore, and he had only one deputy. The RCSD slowly grew to several deputies providing law enforcement services to the county. However, because of the jurisdictional conflict between the local rural police and constables, South Carolina and Richland County prior to 1861 were a lawless domain.
The RCSD was also one of the first departments in the U.S. to be followed by Live PD, a television series that showed the work of law-enforcement officers in real-time, unedited. They remained as a regular department on the show,, until its cancellation in May 2020. The RSCD was Live PD's longest-tenured department.

Weapons

Deputies are issued the Glock 17 9mm handgun as the standard-issue pistol. The agency was one of the first agencies to issue the FN P90 5.7x28mm sub-machine gun in the United States.

Rank Structure