whoswho – Berkeley County Sheriff's Office

Who’s Who

The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service sheriff’s office comprised of 187 full-time sworn deputies, 34 full-time civilians and 3 part-time civilians.

The Hill-Finklea Detention Center employs 75 Detention Officers and 6 civilians.

The Command Staff at the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office has a combined 392 years of law enforcement experience and serves the 17th fastest growing county in the United States with an estimated population over 221,000, a 24% increase since the last official census in 2010.

Over 136,000 residents live in the unincorporated areas of the county.

At 1,099 square miles, Berkeley County is the third largest land area county in the state with Lake Moultrie, located at the center of the county covering 66,000 acres and the third largest lake in the state.

S. Duane
Lewis

Sheriff S. Duane Lewis began his law enforcement career in 1984 as a Deputy Sheriff with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.

Lewis served as a Patrolman with the City of Charleston Police Department and obtained the rank of Investigator.

He also served as Special Agent / Investigator with the INS Investigations Bureau a National Arson Investigative Unit for the Insurance Industry.

Lewis returned to his hometown and accepted a position with the Goose Creek Police Department and was later promoted to Detective Sergeant and managed the Detective Division.

In 1994, Lewis worked with the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) as a Special Agent in the Law Enforcement Division.

He later was promoted to Major and later Deputy Chief and was responsible for Criminal Investigations, Training and Development, Internal Investigations and Federal Regulatory Regulations.

In 2015, he offered and was subsequently elected as the Sheriff of Berkeley County South Carolina in June 2015.
He faced opposition in the 2015 Special Election and won by majority vote.

Sheriff Lewis is a graduate of Goose Creek High School. He has also achieved a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Columbia College. He has received additional Academic Training in Criminal Justice and Fire Sciences.

He graduated from the prestigious FBI Command College and the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.