SUMTER, S.C. — A Sumter Police officer has been terminated and charged with misconduct in office.
Darren Lee McCain is accused of soliciting sex in exchange for money from women whose files he obtained through his time as an officer.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division says 30-year-old McCain served as a Sumter Police officer for more than three years. According to an affidavit, McCain admitted to the crimes after evidence was found on his cellphone.
“When I see somebody that’s blatantly violated policy and tells a lie and even worse, writes a lie as a police officer, it turns my stomach because that's not what we swore to do,” JJ Jones said.
Jones is the executive director of the South Carolina Police Chief Association and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Association. He says police officers constantly review ethical training.
“Officers in South Carolina all attend the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia. Every single officer is provided basic interview and basic instruction and one of the many topics of ethics and law enforcement. Not only do they receive this training while at basic training at the academy, they also get updates training from their home departments, as well as through the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy throughout their career,”
Jones says a new law in the state passed in 2023 helped raise minimum standards and boost accountability for law enforcement.
"When they past that in 2023 and signed by the governor, that gave us a pretty clear playbook of what our law enforcement agencies have to do to get us into the 21st century to keep South Carolina ahead of the curve," he said.
According to Jones, all law enforcement officers in the state have a code of ethics standard set.
"They should be doing it every shift, every call, every interaction with a citizen. It should happen every time. The standards for policies and procedures are set by their departments and enforced through their departments and also the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy,”
According to the Sumter Police Department, McCain was terminated on April 17. The investigation into his case is still ongoing.
Jones says there are the occasional “bad apples,” but they are still working to produce the best officers.
“We're grooming good officers in the state. We have a lot of people willing to take care of the palmetto state and protect our citizens and that's what it's all about,” he said.