Courtney’s Thoughts:
I don’t think it is a secret that my day job is as CEO of Bluffton Self Help. Given that, it would be a long stretch to suggest I know anything about law enforcement, save for the handful of times our alarm has gone off on a weekend and I’ve met Bluffton Police at our office in my pajamas.
So, while I might not be an expert in community policing, I do know a thing or two about what our community looks like and what our neighbors are struggling with. I also know that every decision we make about our community sends ripples far beyond where the decision begins.
This is why I’ve found the recent debate over whether Hilton Head should establish its own police department so fascinating. It’s not because I know the answer. It’s because I’m not sure we’re asking the right first question.
Before we decide who should police Hilton Head, perhaps we should decide who we’re building Hilton Head for.
For decades, we’ve been remarkably successful at becoming one of America’s premier destinations. Year after year, Hilton Head tops the lists: best island, best beaches, best golf, best family vacation. We celebrate those accolades because they’re well-earned.
But every morning, while thousands of visitors wake up in oceanfront villas, thousands of workers wake up somewhere else.
They drive across bridges before sunrise to clean those villas, prepare breakfast in those restaurants, landscape those golf courses, teach in our schools, care for our aging parents, staff our hospitals, respond to our emergencies, and keep this community running.
Some workers live on Hilton Head. Many cannot afford to.
At Self Help, we meet families every day who are making impossible choices in some of the wealthiest zip codes in South Carolina. Parents deciding between groceries and rent. Workers commuting an hour because housing near their jobs is simply out of reach. Adults returning to school because limited literacy has kept them from earning a livable wage.
This isn’t the Hilton Head featured in travel magazines.
But it is Hilton Head.
And that’s why I believe the conversation we’re having about policing is really a conversation about identity.
Do we see ourselves primarily as a destination that happens to have residents? Or as a community that also welcomes millions of visitors?
Those are not the same thing.
When your primary identity is “the best place to visit,” decisions naturally revolve around tourism, aesthetics, and the visitor experience.
When your primary identity becomes “the best place to live and work,” the conversation changes.
Affordable housing becomes a public safety issue. Education becomes an economic development strategy. Reliable transportation becomes workforce infrastructure. Access to healthcare becomes community resilience.
And yes, policing becomes part of a much larger discussion about what makes people feel safe – not just when they’re on vacation, but when they’re raising children, building careers, and growing old here.
I’ve been speaking recently about a simple question that has shaped Self Help’s work: What barriers can we remove so our neighbors can move forward?
I wonder what would happen if every major public decision – from housing to transportation to public safety – were filtered through that same lens.
Would this decision make it easier or harder for someone to live and work here? Would it strengthen our community or simply preserve our image?
I don’t know whether Hilton Head should have its own police department. Thoughtful people can disagree on that.
But I do know this: The strongest communities aren’t defined by the name on a patrol car.
They’re defined by whether the people who make that community possible can afford to be part of it.
Maybe the next chapter of Hilton Head (Bluffton, Hardeeville, and beyond) isn’t becoming an even better place to visit.
Maybe it’s becoming one of the best places in America to live, work, and belong.
Before we decide who should protect Hilton Head, perhaps we should decide who belongs in the community we’re trying to protect.
Barry’s Thoughts:
I know what you’re thinking.
“What are two Bluffton residents doing weighing in on the question of whether or not Hilton Head Island should have a police force?”
Well, since island residence doesn’t seem to be a barrier to running for mayor, surely we should at least be allowed to share an opinion or two.
Because even as a mere Bluffghanistani, I think a police force would be a great thing for Hilton Head Island. And I have several reasons for this opinion, which are several more than would usually inform my opinions.
The first, and most obvious, is that HHIPD would make an awesome cop show.
It could be like Baywatch meets Big Little Lies with a dash of Outer Banks, our sexy main characters juggling their police work and their side gigs as bartenders or Uber drivers – since that’s the only way they’d be able to afford living here. And then, every once in a while, maybe our heroes get caught up in another of those international drug smuggling rings being run off private docks. (There’s a little history lesson for you newcomers).
The second reason I hold this opinion is a little more practical: As a Bluffton resident, I won’t have to pay for it.
But my third reason is a little less flippant, and my status as a Bluffton resident actually puts me in a position of authority here. As you probably know, Bluffton has its own police force. Or at least parts of Bluffton. There are pockets of Bluffton that are solely under Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction, little unannexed tracts that dot the map like spray from a sneeze. No one is really sure where they are, yet somehow our officers manage to make it work.
And what’s more, having them dedicated solely to Bluffton allows them to police the right way, by becoming a part of the community. With the past few years putting law enforcement tactics under greater scrutiny, the truth that’s emerged has been that policing works best when it’s done from within. When you know them beyond the badge, and they know you, it makes everyone safer.
And that’s something that the Bluffton Police Department has been doing all along, for the most part. They are in the community, putting in the work. One of the few times I’ve prayed in public was at a picnic, and I joined hands with the chief of police while I did it. When you see these officers interact with the public, you see how they view the people within their bailiwick not as potential suspects but as neighbors.
I don’t know … maybe I’m painting too rosy a picture of it. I’m sure I have neighbors who would disagree with me on the efficacy of the BPD, but from where I stand it seems like they’re doing it right.
And that’s what a Hilton Head Island Police Force could bring to their community. An officer responding to a situation who actually knows the people involved and can handle it more effectively. Or even – best case scenario – an officer who has already interceded before it became a situation, applying preventative policing to avoid an incident.
It could be just the thing the island needs. And, as long as HHIPD’s duties require officers to make it down to the beach at least once per episode for a few slow-motion shots of running on the beach, I think that’s something we’d all like to see.