Obama focuses on cybercrime initiatives BY JOSH LEDERMAN The Associated Press
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015
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WASHINGTON — Amid fresh concerns about terrorism and cybercrime, President Obama hosted British Prime Minister David Cameron for an Oval Office meeting on Friday, as the British leader called for American technology companies such as Google and Facebook to allow governments to snoop on encrypted communications. Obama and Cameron were huddling with their top aides at the
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Morris one of 7 S.C. colleges to receive funding ORANGEBURG (AP) — Seven South Carolina colleges and universities and the Charleston County School District are joining with other institutions to train students for cybersecurity careers. The White House announced this week that $25 million in federal money is being earmarked for such training largely at historically black colleges and universities. The Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline Consortium brings together institutions nationwide,
two Department of Energy labs and the Charleston County School District to train students. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., announced on Friday that more than $16 million will be coming to institutions in South Carolina. The colleges and universities in South Carolina participating include Sumter’s Morris College, along with Allen University and Benedict College in Columbia. The others are Claflin University, Denmark Technical College, South Carolina State University and Voorhees College.
Car pulled from Second Mill
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Divers watch as a Mazda is pulled out of Second Mill Pond on Friday afternoon. The car crashed into the pond in January of last year. The Sumter police, fire and sheriff’s departments worked to remove the car.
Mazda submerged for a year after intoxicated driver rescued BY HAMLET FORT hamlet@theitem.com
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A collaborative effort between the Sumter city police and fire departments and sheriff’s office resulted in a submerged vehicle being successfully pulled from Second Mill Pond about a year after an intoxicated driver had to be rescued from it by a Sumter police officer. According to officials, the timing of the extraction coincided with lower water levels and a time of year when there is little or no activity on Second Mill Pond.
There was never any doubt the vehicle would ultimately be extracted, they said, it was just a matter of when. A team of trained divers performed the extraction Friday. According to Staff Sgt. Tony Rivers, the divers were from the police department and sheriff ’s office, and Capt. Joey Duggan of Sumter Fire Department said a firefighter offered his personal boat for use. Duggan said the fire department was there “for safety more than anything else.” The divers were able to attach
cables through the open windows of the submerged vehicle and tow it up the bank to Liberty Street, which they had shut down in one direction. Emergency medical technicians were on standby. Sheriff’s office public information officer Braden Bunch said the operation is a practical use of the “tools that we have in Sumter that many first responding communities don’t have,” referring to the dive team put together across multiple departments.
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Sumter police remind drivers to secure their parked cars, guns BY MATT BRUCE matthew@theitem.com
S
umter law enforcement authorities are urging drivers to use caution when parking their vehi-
cles.
And police say the safety measures start with a simple warning: Lock your doors. City of Sumter police are asking car owners to be aware of the things they leave inside their vehicles by securing their cars and keeping valuables out of sight. Police attribute a whopping 90 percent of thefts from automobiles to unlocked car doors. The public advisory comes in the wake of the department’s annual crime statistics, which included a nearly 18 percent spike in auto break-
30 percent. ins. There were 314 instances in 2014, While presenting the annual report 47 more than the year before, when to city council earlier this month, the city saw a 28 percent plunge in its Sumter Police auto break-ins. Chief Russell “That is our bigRoark told city gest adversary at officials the conthis point,” said nection between Sumter Police Sgt. the two categoBilly Lyons. “I ries, noting that think that’s what a large number we fight the most of weapons hit is doors not being the streets secured and valuthrough auto ables inside the vebreak-ins. hicle in plain Lyons, who overview.” sees part of the The rise in auto department’s inbreak-ins reprevestigative unit, sented one of the reads about the city’s two crime SUMTER POLICE SGT. BILLY LYONS vehicular invacategories that sions every day saw a drastic incombing through police reports. He crease in 2014. The other was in said he hopes an effort to inform the weapons violations, which went up
“For us, it’s a dangerous, dangerous thing with those guns getting out on the streets. And when they get taken out of these cars, they’re ending up in the wrong hands.”’
public about the dangers of leaving their doors unlocked at least put the thought in drivers’ heads, eventually reducing the number of unlocked cars on the street. “We can’t tell people enough,” he said. “It just sounds like the simplest thing to do, but for a lot of people that have grown accustomed to getting out of their cars and running inside, they just don’t remember.” According to authorities, the breakins are not confined to specific neighborhoods or high-crime pockets, but they’re spread out city wide. Lyons said more than 80 percent of the auto break-ins involve unlocked vehicles. Roark has, in recent months, said the number is as high as 90 percent. Tonyia McGirt, a Sumter Police Department spokeswoman, said officers began noticing the upward trend in
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