Picking up the Pieces: Sumter County litter officer 'sets the example,' sees changes in behavior

If the sight of litter isn't enough, the smell and labor endured when picking it up is bound to change a person's behavior.

Sumter County Litter Officer Lt. Mike McCoy wants people to think twice before letting a bag of trash fall out the car window or tossing garbage on the side of the road. He has seen people change firsthand after getting caught.

Before becoming the county's litter officer in October, McCoy worked at the Sumter County Sheriff's Office since the early 2000s. Starting off in the reserve program, he switched to the Community Action Team, addressing community issues and traffic. Over time, he got promoted to lieutenant and led a patrol shift.

He made the transfer to the county's litter position to start a new adventure and get back to working in the community. He wasn't prepared for the nature of the problem.

"Since I've been over here, my eyes have been really opened with the litter situation," McCoy said. "The litter is just unreal. It really is. It's terrible."

On average, McCoy takes between 10 and 20 cases a week. Lately, more have been related to illegal dumping near county recycling centers where people toss trash outside the center when it's closed.

"I kind of keep a little roster. What I do is I kind of do a little spread sheet like when I get an incident date and location, where the actual incident happened at; what type of litter, if it's like garbage or say someone might have dumped a large load of tires," McCoy said. "With trash, we find the name of the violator and document all that, and usually sometimes what I do is I kind of do a background check."

McCoy calls it a "cat and mouse game." Once he finds a few identifying pieces, he tracks the person down and starts knocking on doors. He rarely spends the day at a desk.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LITTER OFFICER

On April 12, he had 14 cases in hand, which meant about 14 doors to knock on.

Before hitting the road, McCoy reviewed trash evidence on file. The littered mail and receipts he found while sifting through someone's discarded trash were sealed in plastic bags. McCoy then dropped down his driver mirror to pull out a folder full of addresses, his cases for the day. He picked an address and shifted the truck in gear.

"It's a job. I can tell you that," McCoy said.

At times, a person of interest may have moved from the address, which takes more investigating.

"I write them a ticket and explain everything that's going on, and I think most of the reactions that I get from the ones I have dealt with so far, they're ashamed," McCoy said, "because they got caught. Then I'll have some who are extremely in denial, and I'll have to show them the documentation."

McCoy arrived to a Windham Road residence in search of a man who had reportedly dumped loads of trash behind the Pinewood Road recycling center near Avins Road.

The man answered the door, and McCoy remained polite as he spoke. The man denied the dumping and said he uses a recycling center off U.S. 15 South on Bethel Church Road.

Often, residents are reportedly paying an individual to haul their trash to the area recycling centers, McCoy said, but who the trash belongs to is liable.

McCoy said he'll have to write him a citation, and the man said he had a first name and phone number of the person who took his trash. He provided a piece of paper to McCoy as evidence.

"What I'll do is I'll follow up with him as well, but I'll still have to write you a citation. Once we get to the bottom of it, we can get your citation disposed," McCoy said.

The man cooperated.

Next up, a long list of names and addresses of individuals who reportedly dumped trash outside the Cane Savannah recycling center's gate when it was closed.

McCoy assumed a couple people started piling up trash when the gate closed, which led others to think they could do the same.

That seemed to be the case for a 19-year-old and his grandmother who live down the road from the recycling center.

McCoy found both of their names with the same address in a bag at the site, and he wrote tickets for both; both would be required to appear in court on April 25. However, the teenager took full responsibility. His grandmother asked him to take the trash to the recycling center, and so he did.

McCoy said if the man takes responsibility in court, his grandmother's citation will be disposed, and he would take the fine and be required to do community service.

Sometimes McCoy finds more than one person's trash at a time, like at the dumpsite he found along a path in the woods on Barkley Road. A couch, tires and old, torn-up bags of trash.

As McCoy sifted through the trash and documented the litter, a woman approached him.

"We saw this here, so we're going to document this," McCoy told her.

She was thankful for the assistance.

"I have ran hundreds over the last five years," the woman told McCoy. "It's terrible out here."

She said people have been dumping at that site for almost five years, and she's been trying to scare people off. She said she wished someone could help clean it up, and he promised Public Works would get out there in a few weeks to clean the spot.

Seeing her reaction is what makes McCoy say, "I enjoy what I do."

ENFORCEMENT IN THE COURTS

In the past year, more litter cases have come before Sumter County Magistrate Court thanks to litter officers like McCoy.

Last month, McCoy went before Magistrate Court Judge Keith Griffin with about eight cases and defendants facing charges for either a citation or unsecured load, where a truck hauls items in the bed without a cover; McCoy said he gives these drivers a free tarp to cover future loads.

Often, the defendants can either have a bench trial before the judge or request a jury trial. McCoy said he usually sees bench trials where defendants plead guilty. When this happens, the person pays a fine and is ordered to eight hours of community service picking up litter.

According to McCoy, statutes tend to go by weight, but the fines can range between $100 and $1,000.

Griffin gave several defendants 60 days to complete the eight hours, and he said he would cut the $500 in half to $250 if the community service is completed. If they fail to complete community service, they must pay the full fine and face jail time.

McCoy had other defendants who claimed they paid someone to haul their trash away - just like the resident on Windham Road. He also had a defendant lie about having to attend his aunt's funeral on the day he was supposed to do community service last month. According to McCoy, the individual admitted he lied and was given 16 hours of community service instead of eight.

McCoy leads the litter bugs on their community service work, and he's seen firsthand how the system has made a change for the better.

"I can tell you it's been a very, very positive outcome," he said. "Afterwards, one of the women that came up to me, she's about middle aged, she told me, 'Mr. McCoy, listen, I promise you won't catch me again. I ain't throwing no more litter out. I'm not picking up no more trash.' So it changes their behavior.

"There's consequences to your actions when it comes to litter."

City of Sumter Litter Control Officer Glenn Button can attest that litter enforcement has made an impact. Many residents have taken advantage of the City of Sumter's litter report forms online and filed complaints for codes enforcement and him to address.

"When I first started, there wasn't really a program here, so I had to kind of start from scratch. From where I've started to now, we've grown 100%," Button said. "We've got so much going on, and we are getting litter off the roads."

CLEANING UP SUMTER, PIECE BY PIECE

The first community cleanup of the year was held Feb. 18, when 231 volunteers participated in picking up 727 bags of trash totaling 13,775 pounds, as well as five tires, City of Sumter Litter Control Officer Glenn Button said. Last year, the city's six cleanup days involved 1,205 volunteers picking up 2,230 bags of trash totaling 59,080 pounds, according to The Sumter Item archives.

The City of Sumter hosted its first tire buyback event of the year last month. They collected 995 tires collected and gave out $1,990 to those who recycled the rubber. At the event, they also gave away 46 tarps, car trash bags and educational materials about litter. Button confirmed a second event is in the works.

According to Karen Hyatt, director of Public Works, Sumter County held 107 litter pick-ups last year with 1,729 volunteers who picked up 4,169 bags of trash that weighed a total of 253.58 tons, or 507,159 pounds.

From January to March, about 25 litter pickups have been held with more than 397 volunteers who picked up more than 1,177 bags of trash that weighed 45.96 tons, or 91,926 pounds.

The next scheduled community cleanup day is April 22, which is also Earth Day.

Sumter County Litter Officer Lt. Mike McCoy said the goal is to have zero cases in court. Although that is a far-fetched goal, McCoy said the litter initiative's education and enforcement side has shown a decrease in the crime.

"I think we can make a difference as a team. I think we could set an example," McCoy said. "If you're going to be the example, set the example."