JASPER COUNTY, S.C. () – Jasper County Sheriff Chris Malphrus says his aim is to make the folks living or moving to the area have a safe place to call home.

Malphrus is in his second stint as Sheriff. He was elected in 2016, then losing in the primaries after his first term in 2020.

He didn’t sit at home lamenting his loss. Instead, Malphrus went back to his original job as a Deputy. This time with Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.

Malphrus said it was valuable time spent learning other ways to do the job and remember what it was like to be on the street supporting the community and fighting crime.

“I ran in the mid area of my career,” said Malphrus. “I think I had 16 or 17, 18 years of time. Of course, I had to finish that out. So, when I left office, I mean the only option I had was to go back to work and that’s what I wanted to do. I decided to go outside of Jasper County to police and learned how other counties and cities are doing things and how they were attacking the crime problems and how they’re addressing the communities.”

The Sheriff says he saw what was going on in Jasper County and wanted to make a difference if and when he came back.

“As a Sheriff before I spent four years of what I would call blood, sweat and tears and just dedicated my whole life to trying to make it as best as we could.” said Malphrus. “And we did an amazing job, and we reduced the crimes and the citizens felt safer. And then leaving office. You know, as you watch statistics and you watch things unfold and you watch just was, you know, day to day events of what’s happening, Jasper became very dangerous again. and all the things I see. You know what? The citizens deserve better.

He came back in the 2024 election, defeating incumbent Sheriff Donald Hipp, and returning to office in the county he called home.

“The lifeline is your citizens,” he said. “They have to have that law enforcement trust. And as a police officer or a sheriff’s deputy on the street, your first line of defense is the citizens. Where you have to build that relationship. The citizens know what’s going on in that community. And if they don’t trust you, then they’re not going to tell you. What I learned from going from this office back to the streets was how important it really is.”

That’s something that Malphrus believes was lost in the last four years.

“The Sheriff [Hipp] is a good guy. He’s a nice person. But that doesn’t always equate to safer communities,” said Malphrus. “And I think the citizens pay taxes and the county has invested a lot of money in the sheriff’s office and every department throughout the county. But they want to see their money at work. And I think they just wasn’t quite happy with the totality of it all.”

Sheriff Malphrus walked into a different department than he left, one with a much larger budget, and 70 deputies, double what he had in 2020.

The first 100 days have been spent getting to know those deputies and remaking the patrol division he says.

“I’ve had people like dozens and dozens and dozens of people call say, man, I see sheriff deputies everywhere,” said Malphrus. “I can’t drive down a road without seeing patrol cars. Four or five. I rode from here to Okatie today and passed eight deputies. I saw eight patrol cars. We are dedicated rearranging that agency in the department to put as many people on the patrol division as we could, because that’s your first line of defense for your citizens.”

Now six to eight deputies patrol the streets every shift, getting to know their citizens and making sure criminals know they are there.

The biggest target through 100 days for Malphrus, drugs and the people who are dealing them.

“Our drug arrests went up 45%.” said the Sheriff. “And with that being said, the FBI says that 80 plus percent of the crimes that we deal with every day or drug related. So why would we not focus on that particular area? We know that if we attack the drug problem, then it will alleviate some of the other crimes, your violent crimes, your overdoses, you know, all the things that there is devastating our streets.”

Malphrus said his predecessor had 15 to 20 jobs open at the end of his time in office. Those positions have now been mostly filled. He hopes to get his budget in line to hire more Detectives, and long-term create a crime investigation team to give Jasper County investigators more autonomy to deal with all part of the crimes, arresting criminals and working toward convictions.

Malphrus believed that combination of hard work by deputies and a strong community connection will help him improve those crime numbers and keep the streets safe.

“You can’t arrest your way out of every problem that we’re facing in society today. But it takes a village to raise these children today and always has,” says Malphrus. “And the focus is how can we make the citizens feel safer and have a better relationship. Leave a long lasting, positive impression.”

And Malphrus hopes this time his run as Sheriff will last a very long time.

“As long as the people like me and I’m doing a good job, then the focus is there as long as I can. And really stay in here for as long as I can to really complete all the goals that I have. And that’s a very, very long term. You know, I’ve got 26 years of law enforcement and i can say another 26.”