Alphonso Small Jr. looks to bridge gap between community and law enforcement in Beaufort Co. sheriff race

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC) - Election Day is right around the corner, and early voting ends in South Carolina in just a few days.

One race catching eyes in Beaufort County is the race for sheriff.

Democratic candidate Alphonso Small Jr. sat down in Bluffton to discuss his past law enforcement experience, what inspired him to enter the field, his time as a Beaufort County school board member, why he is running for sheriff, and the changes he would like to bring to the office if elected.

Small Jr.’s life goal has been to honor his uncle, Bruce K. Smalls, a South Carolina state trooper killed in the line of duty.

“That was my inspiration for wanting to be in law enforcement,” Small Jr. said.

That led him to graduate from Estill High School and serve with the town’s police department, the Allendale County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office.

He moved to Beaufort County in 2009.

For the past two years, he has served on the Beaufort County School District Board, where he played a part in raising the salary for teachers and bringing in weapon detection systems to the middle and high schools.

“The two reasons why I ran for the school board, because we were losing a lot of teachers to different agencies and doing a lot of, during that time was a lot of school shootings. And we didn’t have any kind of security weapon detectors in the school,” Small Jr. said. “I was a school resource officer before, and I know all the ins and outs about the security issues at the school.”

Small Jr. says that experience on the school board will help him, especially when it comes to managing a large budget.

“We have the biggest budget in the county, which is roughly like $400 million,” he said.

And if he is elected sheriff, he says some changes will be on the way.

“Bridging the gap between the community and law enforcement. Get the community back involved, dealing with the sheriff’s office. Because right now, we don’t have the relationship with the sheriff’s office and the citizens of Beaufort County,” Small Jr. said.

That includes having more deputies working the streets and building bonds with residents.

“The only time they see a deputy is when something bad happens. And they say they want to see something. They want to see deputies when something good happens, when something good is going on,” he said. “So I’m going to increase patrol in the neighborhoods that people have concerns about,” Small Jr. said. “When I was on patrol, if I come to a neighborhood and I see somebody having a cookout, I’m coming up, pulling up, say, hey, can I have a plate? And sit down and talk with them so they can build that bond with me and the department.”

He also plans on hosting a variety of town halls throughout the community and creating opportunities to talk with the younger generation and figure out how to tackle the rise in youth crime the county has seen.

“That’s going to be one of my main goals: to do prevention programs for the youth. That’s why I want to get to know the youth and try to figure out what they want to do so they can deter from crimes,” Small Jr. said.

Small Jr. hasn’t worked for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office in his career and says it will be a difficult transition at first if he is elected, but says it will quickly get easier after getting to know the department.

“I’m going to try to get to know the people who I’m working with, see what the issues are at the sheriff’s office. And sometimes people don’t want change, so I’m going to be that change. They should have elected me because I’m a people person, and I want change for the community,” Small Jr. said.

The full interview with Alphonso Small Jr. can be found below: