USC will send six incognito officers to Camden, SC
Three to four times the amount of undercover police will be attending Saturday’s Carolina Cup, as estimated by the Kershaw County sheriff.
More than 65,000 people attend the steeplechase in Camden, S.C. Several officers from various police departments will be at the event, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety, among other state police departments and sheriff’s offices.
Six officers from the university’s police department will attend undercover — dressed in plain clothes, according to USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety Capt. Eric Grabski.
“We want to go and assist in any way we can,” Grabski said. “Obviously we’re going
there for alcohol enforcement.”
State agencies, including USCPD, SLED and the Highway Patrol, will be writing student conduct referrals for USC students who are caught violating the law, Grabski said.
In the past, underage attendees paid “cooler carriers” to bring in coolers containing alcoholic beverages. However, the Carolina Cup Racing Association suspended the practice two years ago and has not reinstated it, according to Capt. Mike Stone of the Camden Police Department.
The executive director of the Carolina Cup Racing Association did not return calls
made by The Daily Gamecock.
If underage students are caught with a cooler containing alcohol, they will be given a blue ticket and officers will confiscate the contents, said Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews, who will have about 40 officers in attendance. If the underage students are drunk, they will be arrested, Matthews added. There were about 150 arrests last year, including those for minors in possession, public disorderly conduct and resisting arrests, Matthews said.
After the race Matthews warned there will be considerably more patrol vehicles for
drunk drivers.
“I would highly encourage somebody to be the Delta Delta — the designated driver,” Matthews said.