In early July, Beaufort Insider was contacted by a whistleblower. The information this person continues to share has led to multiple lines of investigation into the operations inside the Beaufort Police Department and the City of Beaufort. Beaufort Insider submitted several FOIA requests related to the information shared by the whistleblower. The responses to these inquiries will be published in a series of articles. There are still a great deal of questions to be answered.
The letter at the center of our investigations is dated June 19, 2023. It is from Chance Sturup, a lawyer representing a long-serving officer with the City of Beaufort Police Department, and is addressed to former Police Chief Dale McDorman. The officer who no longer works for Beaufort Police Department has asked that his name not be shared publicly, so for the purposes of these articles he will be called Officer Parks.
Officer Parks, who had been with the Beaufort Police Department for almost 15 years, was placed on administrative leave for several months as a result of alleged retaliation. According to the letter sent by Sturup, Parks claims the suspension followed his involvement in reporting sexual harassment within the department and uncovering a significant amount of missing evidence from the department’s evidence room.
In November 2022, Officer Parks supported a female colleague in a complaint against Chief McDorman alleging harassment, intimidation, and hostile work environment among other things. According to the letter, in subsequent months, he discovered that hundreds of pieces of evidence, including drugs, weapons, and rape kits, were unaccounted for. After reporting these issues, Parks was suspended in March 2023 and faced accusations that his lawyer describes as “baseless”.
The letter alleges that the Chief of Police retaliated against Parks by suspending him and attempting to damage his career. The officer’s lawyer highlights multiple potential legal claims, including retaliation under the Civil Rights Act and South Carolina’s Whistleblower Protection Act.
During the officer’s 15 years with Beaufort Police Department, Parks received 26 commendations, regular promotions, and consistent merit increases. Nine months before he was put on his terminal suspension, he received a highly favorable evaluation and a pay increase from Chief McDorman. The officer resigned his position on August 8, 2023 after an exchange between his lawyer and the city.
Beaufort Insider reached out to Officer Parks’ lawyer, Chance Sturup, and received this comment: “Any dispute between my client and the department has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”
All three of the officers that went with that female officer to turn in her complaint have since resigned or been terminated from Beaufort Police Department. Those three officers, and the female officer herself, left under similar circumstances, amidst demotions, and claims of retaliation and harassment.
Turns out the city’s Director of Human Resources may have been correct when she allegedly cautioned the female officer, “I can’t promise this won’t get swept under the rug.”
Coming soon from Beaufort Insider:
- A full report of the female officer’s story and her issues that are still pending with the City of Beaufort.
- Information about the “missing evidence” and what Beaufort Insider has been able to figure out.
- A full report on the 2006 rape case that cannot be prosecuted due to unaccounted for evidence, even though a suspect has been identified with DNA.
- Questions about how the city responds to complaints and personnel matters.
- An accounting of how current city and police department leaders are continuing the same practices that led to many of these problems.
If you have information about this series of upcoming stories, or any other Insider information you would like to share, please message @beaufortinsider on Facebook Messenger (with end to end encryption) or email editor@beaufortinsider.org.
