Two candidates vying to unseat incumbent Underwood in Chester sheriff race

All three Democratic candidates running for Chester County sheriff are seasoned law enforcement veterans.

Andre Williams is the former Chester chief of police who, for the past year, has overseen security for the Chester County School District.

Al Rainey is a retired Chester police officer and military veteran who says his passion for helping people has motivated him to come out of retirement and “give them one more good run.”

Both men are vying to unseat Sheriff Alex Underwood, who was elected in 2012 as a petition candidate. The winner of Tuesday’s primary will go on to face former Chester County Sheriff Richard Smith, a Republican whom Underwood unseated, in the general election.

All three candidates sat down with The Herald this week:

Andre Williams

Q: What is the role of the sheriff?

A: He is the lead law enforcement of the county. He is a liaison between the citizens and law enforcement. His job is to serve and protect the citizens. He’s a servant, first and foremost. His job is also to make sure his staff is up to par with all of their accreditations and training. He’s also over the jail. … He has to make sure the jail is up to par and is accredited.

Q: Why do you want to be sheriff of Chester County?

A: I think Chester needs a change. We’ve been in a bad light for a while, and I think I can change that.

As a chief, I’m limited in what I can do. The sheriff, he works for the people, he really doesn’t have a boss over him. A lot of programs I wanted to implement as a chief, I would have to go through the council. As a sheriff, you can implement as much as you want, as long as you have the finances or some people supporting you.

One thing I can promise the citizens, my personal life will not overshadow the job. I think a sheriff should be a servant. If he’s a leader, he should lead by example and not be overpowering or overtowering. He’s a servant to the people 24-7.

Q: What are the biggest law enforcement issues facing Chester County and the sheriff’s office that you would tackle first if elected sheriff?

A: The first thing I would tackle is the relationship between all the other government entities. Currently, and previously when I was chief of police, I had a good working relationship with all of them, so it would be up to par. The next thing is the trust for the citizens. I think the sheriff’s department needs to be more open to some of the things they’re doing and why they’re doing it, which would make the citizens trust you more.

Q: At a time when law enforcement around the country is under heightened public scrutiny, how would you describe the relationship between the sheriff’s office and the community, and do you see ways to improve it?

A: I think too much of the sheriff’s department’s personal business is overshadowing what needs to be done, which is to serve and protect. We all have faults in this, but in this job, it’s up to the sheriff to separate those things. If they elect me, they will never have to worry about that personal life overshadowing. Things happen, but things that you can control, you should keep them out of the limelight.

Q: What are some things you would like to change about the current operations of the sheriff’s office?

A: I would like to place more focus on the outer surrounding areas, like Great Falls and Fort Lawn. We want to put some substations out there and be more visible. The sheriff needs to be more visible. That’s what I would start with.

Q: How would you attract or continue to attract new people to this profession?

A: By leading by example. If you do the right things, you apply yourself — just being a walking billboard. When I was chief, I tried to afford my officers education to educate your officers, streetwise and in the books. I brought Claflin in and South Carolina State for them to go back to school, if they will.

Al Rainey

Q: What is the role of the sheriff?

A: The role of the sheriff, to me, is to be out here for the public to let them know that you’re there for them in any aspect that they need you. It falls on the sheriff, but you’ve got a good team of deputies; they’ll hold up that end for you, if they respect you as the sheriff. Being there for the people is the main thing.

Q: Why do you want to be sheriff?

A: I want to be back out here for the people. I miss being out here for the people. It’s not for the love of the badge; it’s for the love of the people. I’m an outsider, I was born in Rock Hill. Chester has become home since 1990. I just like being out here for them. It makes me feel good that I was out of the business for four years, that people would even come up and talk to me about it and ask me to do this. It means a lot to me.

Q: What are the biggest law enforcement issues facing the sheriff’s office and Chester County that you plan to tackle first if elected sheriff?

A: It’s not what I want; it’s what the people want. That’s one of the things I’ll do – I’m going to listen to the people like I’ve always done. There’s different things in different counties in different states on that aspect of law enforcement, not just at the sheriff but being in the public’s eye. It’s not what I want; it’s what the people want. That’s why I want to be out here for them again. I’ve got to give them one more good run.

Q: At a time when law enforcement around the country is under heightened public scrutiny, how would you describe the relationship between the sheriff’s office and the community, and do you see ways to improve it?

A: I want to bring the community and law enforcement together. I want to bring all the communities and all agencies in this county together, working as one. Because without the community’s help, our jobs are a whole lot tougher than what it is.

Q: What are some things you would like to change about the current operations of the sheriff’s office?

A: I haven’t really kept up a whole lot, in the years I’ve been retired, on what Sheriff Underwood has done. It’s nothing against Sheriff Underwood. Sheriff Underwood and I have known each other since ’91 or ’92.

I know some of the things that he’s done, but I don’t know everything that he’s done. I’ll just have to look at the layout of what he’s done, and if it’s something I like that the sheriff’s done, I’m probably going to go ahead and keep that program running. If it works, why mess it up? Just because it’s something he had done. I might have improvements on something that he had done. It’s nothing against Sheriff Underwood; I’ve got a lot of respect for him and I’ve known him a long time.

Q: How would you attract or continue to attract new people to this profession?

A: You’ve got to be able to have the council that’s going to be able to work with you and help you to actually attract the younger generation into law enforcement. It’s not for the money; you’ve got to have a heart for the people and the heart to really want to be out here and do for the people. I’m sure there’s some things out here we can do. A lot of the things people are looking at now is benefits. … You’ve got to have something to offer for these guys – or girls.

Alex Underwood

Q: What is the role of the sheriff?

A: The role of the sheriff is to make sure all the laws of the state of South Carolina are being enforced fairly and equally throughout the county. He’s the executive law enforcement officer of the county. The sheriff works for the people, and he represents the people because they elect him to that position. They have to have trust in the sheriff to do the job the way it’s supposed to be done. That’s to enforce the laws of the state of South Carolina and to uphold the laws and make sure we’re safe in our community and that everything’s done fairly.

Q: Why did you want to be sheriff?

A: Being born and raised in Chester, I moved back to Chester in 2003. Chester’s always had a pretty bad reputation as far as law enforcement not being able to solve crime, not being seen. It was sort of like, if you want to kill somebody, the best place to do it is Chester. Being from Chester, I never like that little terminology.

With all my experiences and stuff like that that I’ve done throughout my career and being right here in Chester, I can’t live at home in my area in peace and safety and everybody else in the county’s got turmoil. So, I decided to go ahead and run for sheriff and see if we can straighten it all out.

Q: What are the biggest law enforcement issues facing Chester County and the sheriff’s office that you plan to tackle first if re-elected?

A: One of the biggest issues, as far as the sheriff’s office is concerned, is manpower and equipment. We’ve got to have manpower and equipment. You can’t expect for the amount of deputies we have here to be able to patrol 580-something square miles. There’s no way possible, but we do a heck of a job.

The point is, we could do a whole lot better with more manpower and more resources. With the growth and industry coming to Chester County now, there’s going to be more people moving to Chester, more houses being built, more communities being built, and those people deserve to be protected. That’s one of the biggest issues we’re going to be fighting for, manpower and equipment.

Q: At a time when law enforcement around the country is under heightened public scrutiny, how would you describe the relationship between the sheriff’s office and the community, and do you see ways to improve it?

A: I think the sheriff’s office and the community get along pretty good. The last three-and-a-half years, you’ll see the change we’ve done here in Chester. People like seeing us out there, they respect us and we have respect for them. They know that we work for them.

You can always keep striving to be better, so we’re not just going to settle for that. We’re going to be the best there is, and we’re going to continue to do that. As far as community, I think we’re doing pretty good with the community.

Q: What are some things about the current operations of the sheriff’s office that you would like to change?

A: Equipment-wise, manpower-wise, I’d like to continue to get more training and get them more involved in the community. We could always use good people applying. We have people that apply for jobs a lot nowadays, but we really screen them a lot more than what used to be done before I took over.

Before I took over, there were no random drug tests. There was no (physical fitness) test. There were several things that were not in place at the sheriff’s office that I just kind of thought was ridiculous. How can you clean somebody else’s yard when you don’t clean your own backyard? There’s different things we could do to keep it going.

Q: How would you attract or continue to attract people to this profession?

A: To be honest with you, the media, in some respects, kind of paints law enforcement in a negative light. I understand that negative stuff sells news, but you can’t expect somebody to apply for a job when all they hear is negative about the job.

You take the Highway Patrol, for example. They may stop a million cars a year – a million contacts with people in the state of South Carolina in a year. If one trooper makes a mistake and ends up in a bad situation and somebody puts it on the news, that’s the only thing that’s ever recognized – that bad mistake. They never go back and look at all those other contacts they made with citizens coming through South Carolina that never had an issue. They were happy to be stopped and appreciate the fact that they were out there. It’s just the way you advertise the position.

Law enforcement is a respectable position. At some point in time in which incidents happen across the nation, you get the negative side of it or you get some knucklehead who’s flat-out wrong, and you take action on them and you handle it right then. We get a lot of applications now. We screen through them, I try to get the best of the best. That way, it makes the sheriff’s office look even better.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Two candidates vying to unseat incumbent Underwood in Chester sheriff race."