SC police agencies make less information available

Newspaper readers and television news watchers along much of South Carolina’s coast aren’t finding out as much about crime in their neighborhoods these days.
   
That’s because deputies in Beaufort County won’t turn over police reports on weekends or holidays, meaning reporters had to wait for days to review crimes that took place over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.
   
In Charleston, The Post and Courier reports police are blocking out critical information in some of their reports, including where burglaries took place and the names of witnesses.
   
Law enforcement officials say they are protecting privacy. But media lawyer Jay Bender says they are preventing people from getting critical information that could keep them safe.