On Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, police will stop vehicles traveling in the left lane without aggressively passing, hitting the whiteout line, or following too closely. The annual crackdown, dubbed “Operation Rolling Thunder,” required police perfection.
Any violation, no matter how minor, may result in a roadside interrogation and warrantless search. However, the 21-month battle for transparency revealed that the participating agencies had loose ties to South Carolina’s government. freedom of information act (Freedom of Information Act), which requires the government to conduct its business in an “open and public manner.”
Motorists must strictly abide by state laws. But those responsible for enforcing the law gave themselves a pass.
deny, deny, deny
The long-running Freedom of Information Act dispute began on October 11, 2022, less than a week after a five-day raid resulted in the seizure of nearly $1 million in cash. Our public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, requested incident reports for all 144 vehicle searches that occurred during a joint operation involving 11 agencies: Cherokee County, Florence County, Greenville County and Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department Office of the Sheriff; Duncan, Gaffney and Welford Police Departments; South Carolina Highway Patrol, Law Enforcement Division and State Traffic Police; and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Our intention is simple. We want to check for constitutional violations, which can multiply in the rush to pull over and search as many vehicles as possible within the allotted time frame. South Carolina facility performs this surgery every year Since 2006but no one has done a system audit yet.
Spartanburg County failed to comply with its FOIA obligations and denied our request without citing any provision of the law. We tried again, then enlisted the help of South Carolina resident and attorney Adrianne Turner, who filed a third request in 2023.
spent one litigation Finally pry open the record. Turner filed a special lawsuit with outside representatives.
Main findings
The incident reports were released in batches between March and July 2024, showing why Spartanburg County was eager to prevent anyone from obtaining them.
- During Operation Rolling Thunder in 2022, more than 72% of vehicle searches did not reveal any illegal activity. Police often treat innocent drivers like criminals.
- It is legal to carry any amount of cash, but officials consider currency to be contraband. Records do not describe a case in which police found large amounts of cash but did not seize it. All money is considered dirty.
- Officers pressured owners to sign roadside abandonment forms and give up their demands for cash on the spot.
- South Carolina residents mostly received passes. Officials are focusing on vehicles with out-of-state license plates, rental cars and commercial buses. More than 83 percent of suspects found in warrantless searches live out of state. Nearly half are from Georgia.
- Black travelers are particularly vulnerable. Nearly 74% of identified suspects and 75% of those arrested are black. That’s more than three times the black population of South Carolina 25%.
working in the shadows
While these records shed light on police conduct, more secrets remain.
Per policy, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies do not create incident reports for each search. They only record their “wins” when cash or contraband is discovered. When they come back empty-handed, they don’t record their “loss.”
As a result of this policy, 102 of the 144 searches conducted in Spartanburg County during Operation Rolling Thunder in 2022 were not recorded. Police begin and end investigations and then act as if the search never happened.
This leaves government regulators in the dark – and that’s intentional. They cannot inspect public records that do not exist. Victims cannot cite them in lawsuits. Police supervisors also cannot review them when evaluating job performance.
Even if body camera video exists, there is no written record. Lack of record-keeping undermines the intent of the Freedom of Information Act. Agencies simply evade responsibility by not summarizing their embarrassing or potentially unconstitutional conduct.
This rigged system is rife with abuse. Available records show officers frequently ordered drivers to get out of their cars and sit in the front seat of patrol cars. If people show “Difficulty breathing,” “nervous,” or being “visibly shaken,” police considered this as possible cause.
What the police ignore is that anxiety is normal when trapped in a police car and left without permission. Even those who cherish their Fourth Amendment rights to “the security of persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” may crack under the pressure and consent to a search.
If the traveler refuses, officers can bring a K9 unit to the site and conduct an open-air sniff. No drugs were carried in the car doesn’t always help. False alarms occurred during Operation Rolling Thunder, but a lack of records prevented a full audit.
Intimidation, harassment and miscarriage of justice can easily be hidden. Police tell travelers: “If you have nothing to hide, you should let us search you.” But when the roles are reversed and the public asks questions, agencies suddenly want to remain silent.
