A troubling whistleblower story has been developing in South Carolina. The federal authorities and the South Carolina state senate is investigating systematic retaliation by the SC State Police against their own officers who report illegal activity within the agency. Read about it here>>
Most recently, whistleblowers’ disclosures there have led to the release of these shocking videos, showing officers using their vehicles as a weapon to ram fleeing suspects.
As one state senator put it, the SC State police has been run by "good ol’ boy politics."
Hopefully the state and federal investigations in South Carolina will root out the wrongdoers and result in the proper reforms, but this instance really shows the need for better state and federal laws to protect whistleblowers. After the devastating 2006 Garcetti v. Ceballos Supreme Court decision, government whistleblowers no longer have the First Amendment to rely on as a shield against retaliation, which leaves them with basically no protection whatsoever.
