Wife and I are looking at possibly moving out of Colorado and down that  way. If a job contact pans out, I might try for the Richland County Sheriffs office. From what Im hearing its a decent area. Looking at starting up again in LE. What can y'all tell this young buck?

ETA: Looking to get on with a SO or PD that needs some dog handlers.

Lexington County has a good size K-9 troop, and their colonel is a terrific guy.   Several great places to shoot, and we have PSA...

if you have been doing that, you might have a good shot

richland and lexington are both fast paced, you will be in the hole,  going call to call every shift

richland offers better equipment and more movement and training.....lexington offers better pay and the idea you don't have to deal with alvin s glenn....ill let you google that shit hole

I would say look at some of the smaller agencies, because they generally have better benefits and working environment, but many don't have dogs
I personally wouldn't work for columbia for a culmination of small reasons

i wouldn't live in richland county if you paid me

I'd stay far away from Richland Co. I grew up in and love Lexington Co.



BK

Im starting to read more about Lexington Co and Im liking it.

Let us know when you might be in the area...  We will be glad to show you around.

I live in Lex County, my father-in-law works for the county govt, and he is good friends with the (long-time) Sheriff.  Excellent place to live and work.

I should probably put this out there. We dont know if or when we would move. My wife is in cosmotology school till beginning of next year. Im deployed right now on a contract and Im just looking at options for when my year is up. I want to get back to being a cop (was .mil LE) specifically working K9 again. I was trying to get stationed in SC before i got out and We both decided it would be a good place to live. One of the guys Im working with over here (who was a GA deputy) said he had a friend in Richland county so I looked at Columbia. It seems like a really nice lace to live, good balance of city/rural life. So please, any info on SC in general just to get a basis for now would be appreciated.

I really appreciate the help guys.
Zach

Well...  As you will find, most SC natives just want to be helpful - Southern Hospitality and all...   The Midlands of SC is a great place - hence all the folks moving in.   No more than three hours to the mountains or beach...   Charleston, Savannah, and tons of other historic places not too far.   It does get a bit warm in the Summer, but Winter is not too bad.

As someone who has lived in Denver and Vail, and moved to SC and lived in Columbia and Lexington... are you f'ing crazy?  We have two seasons, rainy and hot and humid.  8 more years and I'm moving back to Colorado... they can have this sweatbox where people don't know how to drive.

You might not want to the way things are going. Ill take that in a gun friendly state over 4 seasons and a liberal bastion.

I moved here from the upstate about 15 years ago to follow my girlfriend (now wife) to school.  I loved the college life but hated Columbia.  Culturally it was a cesspool but has changed a good bit.  Columbia itself is still ghetto in relation to Greenville/Charleston but its saving grace is Lexington (aka Rednexington or "God's Country").  If you have a pickup truck you will fit right in, and if not a minivan will do.  It's very family friendly.  Lexington is where Lake Murray is located, and the area/houses around the lake are nice.  There is still lots of farmland around, but being developed more and more every day.  There is a good bit to do in Lexington/Irmo but most big attractions are in Columbia.  Lexington county is very conservative compaired to Richland county but still culturally diverse.   Lexington county actually has good publc schools if you have kids.  Hope some of this helps and as you can tell I am an advocate for Lexington.  Oh yeah it's hot as hell in the summer.

I'm sure I could get by with a house somewhere in Eagle County.  If I'm stuck with a 5 shot .30-06 or a 7 round capacity .22LR so be it.  You're in for a treat the first April - October you spend down here... sucks is a nice way to put it if you don't like humidity.

You can count on job security. Plenty of work to go around.

Greenville is pretty nice. Not as hot as Columbia in the summer. People can't drive here either though. But SC overall is a very gun friendly state, and hopefully always will be.  And you still have 4 seasons.  You can be in the mountains in about an hour, and be at the beach in about 3 - 3.5.

Lexington county is the place to live, if in the midlands. Greenville area if upstate. Charleston is not my cup of tea, but some folks like it. Great gun laws, and getting better. Lexington is very conservative. It does get hot and humid during the summers, which run roughly May through October. Fall is Nov-Dec, winter Jan-Feb, spring Mar-Apr. No joke, I wear shorts 8 full months out of the year.  I have lived here all my life, and I wish I could say you get used to the humidity, but you really do not. Make sure you get a home with good AC, plus your vehicles will all need AC. Columbia actually sits in a geographic trough that traps humidity and heat, especially June thru September. But all in all, it is a great place to raise a family. Lexington 1 schools are some of the best in the state.

As others have stated...Stay away from Richland County!! I just recently purchased my first home in Richland and I am thinking of moving already. The taxes are insane compared to other counties, among other things. Lexington is the way to go.

one other thing about Lexington: it's close to everything.  I live in the "thriving metropolis" of Gilbert.  I am 30 min from Columbia, 20 minutes from Irmo (where really all the stuff is like the mall, etc.), and only about 40 minutes from Aiken/Augusta (Horses and Golf).  I live the country, have lots of hunting space, and the cost of living is cheap.  Rural feel while being less than 30 minutes from whatever I need.

Beware of the car tax.  Where some states nail you on property taxes on your home, SC has lower county property tax on your house and makes up for it in the county car tax.  The car tax is based on value of the car.  I once paid just $25 for the year on a 1984 Chevy Caprice about 10 years ago.  I recently paid more than my home tax on a 2012 Escalade that the wife just had to have.  No, I don't live in a trailer.

The Richland County car tax vs Lexington County car tax is up for debate in this HTF.  I lived in Lexington Co. 1997 - 1999 and car taxes went up every year.  I moved to NW Richland Co. and my car tax went down.  Lexington Co. has been booming and they've raised taxes to keep up.  Every time I mention it here, the Lexington Co people jump my behind.  I'm done doing the research to argue this here.  All I can say it go to each county's website and pull up the car tax info.  Both Richland and Lexington have an estimator online for what you'll pay in car tax on your specific make, model, and year.

FWIW.  I live out in Richland NW in the combined Lexington Richland Dist. 5 school district.  This district markets themselves well and supposedly are pretty good schools overall.  It keeps the housing values stable.  Folks are fairly conservative out this way of both sides of the Richland/Lexington county line.  The rotten core of Columbia and the resulting county government is what gives Richland County the bad name.  Both NW Richland and NE Richland County pay into that swirling vortex.

The people who cant drive are usually transplants from the North. We can drive just fyi. Also, beware you will be near the festering shit hole that is Columbia. They have a cult of trailer trash down there that worships penises. Other than that I have heard its not too bad.

That will make work fun. Im just looking for a good place to have a house, where the wife can work, and I hopefully wont have to deal with too many liberals. Being a cop, I would expect some shitty places.

Live in Lexington co, work downtown.  Richland county is ok.. but Lexington county is better.  Also look into Greenville as someone else has said.

Now more importantly, you get to go to Palmetto state armory and buy lowers and ar15s while everybody else online can't

I'd look into Greenville.

I'm in Columbia now, it is not too bad.  The Sheriff seems to be a good one, in both Richland and Lexington counties.

If you come to visit, shoot us a tell, we'll show you around and maybe take you to a range to shoot.  

I'm going to need an address for this...


...so i know where not to go, of course.