Lancaster County sheriff, officer awarded state honors

LANCASTER, S.C. — Both the sheriff and an officer at a South Carolina sheriff’s office have been honored by a state law enforcement group.

Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile received an award for ethics and excellence and Lt. Christy Rogers was named officer of the year last month by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association.

Rogers has worked for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office for 24 years, going from a patrol deputy to supervising the agency’s crime scene and evidence unit.

Rogers’ hard work and careful, methodical collection of evidence to document crime scenes helps make arrests and assure the right people face punishment, both Faile and Solicitor Randy Newman said.

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Rogers also trains the technicians who work under her on how to be effective witnesses when they need to testify in court, Newman said.

Faile has also spent his entire career with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, starting as a patrol deputy before becoming sheriff 13 years ago.

Faile was honored with the Jackie Swindler Award for Ethics and Excellence for overseeing a department in a county whose population has doubled since he was hired and reaching out to other law enforcement agencies, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association said.

The sheriff has put in innovative programs to help drug addicts treatment instead of prison and mapping techniques to more quickly determine patterns in crime to catch violators and prevent more illegal acts, the association said.

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