(A) There is created a South Carolina Highway Patrol Division and a South Carolina State Police Division within the Department of Public Safety. The South Carolina Highway Patrol Division shall have such troopers, officers, agents and employees as the department may deem necessary and proper for the enforcement of the traffic and other related laws, and the South Carolina State Police Division shall have such troopers, officers, agents and employees as the department may deem necessary and proper for the enforcement of the commercial motor carrier related laws, the enforcement of which is devolved upon the department. Such officers and troopers shall be commissioned by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Director of the Department of Public Safety. Such commissions may be terminated at the pleasure of the director.

(B) The department must provide the officers of the Highway Patrol and of the State Police with distinctive uniforms and suitable arms and equipment for use in the performance of their duties. Such officers and troopers shall at all times, when in the performance of their duties, wear complete uniforms with badges conspicuously displayed on the outside of their uniforms.

(C) The commanding officers of the South Carolina Highway Patrol and the South Carolina State Police respectively, with the approval of the director of the department, shall prescribe a unique and distinctive official uniform, with appropriate insignia to be worn by all officers when on duty and at such other times as the director shall order, and a distinctive color or colors and appropriate emblems for all motor vehicles used by the Highway Patrol and the State Police except those designated by the director. No other law enforcement agency, private security agency, or any person shall wear a similar uniform and insignia which may be confused with the uniform and insignia of the Highway Patrol or State Police. An emblem must not be used on a nondepartment motor vehicle, nor may such vehicle be painted in a color or in any manner which would cause the vehicle to be similar to a Highway Patrol or State Police vehicle or readily confused with it.

(D) The director shall file with the Legislative Council for publication in the State Register a description and illustration of the official highway patrol uniform with insignia and the emblems of the official highway patrol and motor vehicles including a description of the color of such uniforms and vehicles and a description and illustration of the official state police uniform with insignia and the emblems of the official state police and motor vehicles including a description of the color of such uniforms and vehicles.

(E) The South Carolina Highway Patrol Division shall transfer the service sidearm of an active duty trooper killed in the line of duty to the trooper's surviving spouse upon request at no charge once the sidearm has been rendered permanently inoperable.

HISTORY: 1993 Act No. 181, Section 343(A); 1994 Act No. 335, Section 1; 1997 Act No. 51, Section 1.