Posted on
Thu, Apr. 22, 2004, The State Newspaper
Benedict officer has a way with people
Retired sheriff’s deputy is among 3 Wall of Fame honorees
By JOHN C. DRAKE
Staff Writer
Lt. Louis N. Johnson says his success at communicating
with unruly students can be traced to lessons learned
as a resident of Allen Benedict Court in the 1960s.
People in subsidized housing developments respected
each other because they were dealing with many of the
same issues, and the closeness of the homes made it
necessary to get along, he said.
“I’m a people person,” Johnson said. “I feel like
I can get along with the devil.”
At 64, the Benedict College police officer is being
honored today as one of three former residents of public
housing named to the Columbia Housing Authority’s Wall
of Fame.
Johnson’s efforts to steer youth away from drugs and
crime as an officer with the Richland County Sheriff’s
Department earned him the Order of the Palmetto in
1996, the highest service award the governor’s office
gives state citizens.
While that award was a great honor, he said, the recognition
from the housing authority is closer to his heart.
“It was done by my peers — peers who really know me.”
Riding in a golf cart to the campus center on a recent
sunny afternoon, Johnson waved and joked around with
students heading to class who called out “Hey Pop”
as he passed.
They see a lot of him. Johnson coordinates security
for special events at Benedict, which means that whenever
a crowd gathers, Johnson is there.
In the David H. Swinton Campus Center, Johnson encountered
a group of four tall high school students — recruits
for next year’s football team. Johnson, who travels
with the football team, sized them up.
“How much do you weigh?” he asked each one.
Unimpressed, Johnson jokingly suggested he could take
on them all himself.
Older teenagers are not used to being approached by
law enforcement in that way, he said. Maybe that will
give them a fond impression of Benedict, he said, but
it may say as much about the kind of officer Johnson
is.
As a narcotics investigator with the Richland County
Sheriff’s Department for 15 years, he had to convince
some shady characters to trust him with information.
Now, he is using those same relationship-building
skills at Benedict.
Colleagues credit Johnson with diffusing potentially
hostile encounters by approaching students as a friend
and getting them to sit down and talk about their differences.
“They follow him like little puppies,” said Haywood
M. Bazemore, chief of the college’s public safety department.
Johnson began working with young people while living
in subsidized housing. He moved to Allen Benedict Court
at age 20 and lived there from 1959 until 1964. Johnson
started a Little League baseball team for residents
while working as a spray painter for a Midlands sign
company.
At the same time, the under-staffed sheriff’s department
had taken him on as a “special deputy.” He rode with
and backed up deputies before being hired as an officer.
Toward the end of his career with the sheriff’s department,
the married father of two and grandfather of four worked
to educate young people about the dangers of drugs
and started a summer basketball league for youth.
“We try to get individuals who are good role models
for our young people to emulate,” said the Rev. Edward
Francis, chairman of the selection committee for the
Wall of Fame.
“Louis Johnson has been involved in a number of activities
that deal with youth and prevented them from being
involved in criminal behavior, and keep them going
in the right direction.”
