COLUMBIA, S.C. — Late Tuesday, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division released their annual crime in South Carolina report. The document tracks crime stats and trends between 2022 and 2023.
SLED said the most glaring statistic in the report is that weapon law violations increased for the 10th straight year.
Although the total number of offenses in 2023 is up just slightly over 2022 (11,410 vs 11,204) the report notes that weapons law violations rose over 129% from 2014 to 2023 and have increased over 620% since 1993.
Closer to the Midlands, each county has various crime stats that stand out.
In Richland County there were 24 arrests for sexual battery in 2023 versus eight in 2022. That's an increase of 200%. In Lexington County kidnappings and abductions increased 40% year-over-year with 25 in 2022 and 35 in 2023.
Orangeburg county saw 24 murders and nonnegligent manslaughter arrests in 2022 and 59 in 2023, a 145% increase. Meanwhile, Sumter County experienced an 87% increase in larceny theft offenses with 270 arrests in 2022 versus 506 in 2023.
One troubling number that is up around the state and across the Midlands, is DUI arrests.
SLED said DUI’s are up 24.6% across the state with some counties in the Midlands seeing more than double the number of DUI arrests in 2023 than they did in 2024.
One reason for the increase in DUI arrests could be related to lingering effects from the pandemic.
Jennifer Wolff is an independent social worker and trauma therapist who said many drink to escape the stresses of the world.
“The intensity of the world and traumatic events and the difficult life circumstances that people encounter, it provides a means of escape, and it medicates that pain. We definitely saw an uptick during the pandemic in so many different ways and we’re seeing the fallout,” Wolff said.
Local law enforcement is already reacting to the SLED report. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the new report echoes what he's told the community before.
“SLED’s report reflects what RCSD has been saying: the gun violence has been driven by young adults who have very little regard for human life. Education is the key to addressing this increase,” Lott said.
You can view SLED’s annual crime report for yourself at their website.