It seems hard to imagine that there would have been enough crime on the Isle of Palms back in 1953 to necessitate hiring a police officer. After all, there were only a few hundred full-time residents back then and not many tourists. The island’s early residents relied on county patrol officers to maintain order in an emergency, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right?
So as the island’s population began to grow, a consistent police presence on the island would be a deterrent to mischief and give the residents a sense of security. Nobody locked their doors – but better safe than sorry. When the city was incorporated, the issue of establishing a police department was paramount. At the second city council meeting held in February 1953, an ordinance was passed to establish a municipal police department.
That’s where island resident A.W. Anderson comes in. He was appointed by the mayor and unanimously approved by council as the city’s first police chief. Two weeks later, council voted to appropriate $3,447 to the newly formed police department of one, and police protection was up and running. An allowance was made to provide Anderson with a .38 service revolver, and his salary was set at $3,000 per year. He would receive an additional $600 annually for the use of his own car which the city would retrofit with a siren and the newly approved city seal painted on the side.
One of Anderson’s responsibilities was to enforce the new requirement for businesses to purchase city licenses. He was also given the task of monitoring streetlights and reporting those not working to the power company and filling large holes in paved streets. Supervision of garbage collection as well as managing payroll for garbage collectors were also among his official duties, and he was responsible for monitoring concessioners on Front Beach to ensure they kept their properties free of trash. By the end of the year, council voted to add a volunteer detective force.
City council also looked to improve fire protection for island residents. It appropriated $4,200 to the volunteer fire department with the “clear understanding” that the title to the department’s sole fire engine – which was kept in a resident’s garage – would be transferred to the city. Then the city would pay off the remaining $1,060 owed on the truck which had been purchased earlier by the volunteer force with funds donated by the Isle of Palms Exchange Club. Council would use city funds to pay to install a siren on the truck, and a fire hydrant was soon added on the corner of 4th Avenue and Carolina.
The volunteer fire department eventually transitioned to a half-and-half system, with paid personnel working alongside volunteers in their crucial mission. It wasn’t until 1987 that the city hired Larry Britton as its first full-time fire chief. Britton was a lifelong Charleston-area resident and had been a volunteer firefighter as a teen growing up on Johns Island in the 1970s. He came to the Isle of Palms just two years before the storm of the century. There’s nothing like trial by fire – or in this case, wind and flooding – and the island’s recovery would be challenging. Both fire stations on the Isle of Palms were destroyed by Hugo’s wrath, and the fire department was forced to operate out of mobile homes with fire trucks and rescue boats stowed in large tents.
Britton oversaw all daily operations of the department as the city slowly recovered from the colossal amount of damage inflicted on buildings and infrastructure. He even played a part in planning a concert by The Beach Boys to not only raise funds to help rebuild the island’s fire stations but to also lift the community’s spirits. Having met the multitude of challenges that had come with the hurricane, the island’s emergency medical technicians were trained just two years later to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and became the first fire department in Charleston County to acquire such authorization. This achievement ushered in an entirely new era of life-saving measures that we rely on today.
The transformation of the Isle of Palms police and fire departments over the last seven decades has been admirable. But just as they did when our small community was first starting out, the island’s 22 police officers and 40 trained fire department personnel dedicate their lives to the safety of island residents and visitors. Both have proven over the years that they are up to the challenge of making the Isle of Palms a great place to live and play safely.
By Mary Coy
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