Alan Wilson a Republican candidate for the state’s attorney general office cited his “passions for public service, prosecution and leadership as his three main reasons for running for office in a visit to Bamberg.

Wilson, outlined an agenda that included; supporting the drug court program, improving the use of technology in the courtroom, law enforcement training and tackling the gang problem in the state through early intervention programs.

Wilson, a native of Lexington and son of Congressman Joe Wilson, said that the number one job of the attorney general, who is the state’s top prosecutor, is to “keep each citizen of South Carolina and their family members safe.”

He attended college at Francis Marion University and graduated from USC Law School and has been a member of the National Guard for 14 years and attended the Army Field Artillery School. He served nine years as a field artillery officer and deployed to Iraq as a field artillery officer in 2005. He transferred to the JAG Corp and is a staff JAG Advocate, presently serving in the National Guard with the rank of Major. Wilson was assistant attorney general from January 2007 to March 2009 and Assistant Solicitor under Donnie Meyers in the 11th Circuit in Lexington for three and a half years before going to Iraq.

He credits the increase in gang activity to two main reasons which he said was “the breakdown of the family unit and illegal immigration.”

“We have a proliferation of gangs,” Wilson said, adding “under the state grand jury system, we can prosecute a person for being in a game, but that’s the stick approach. If you wait until a young person is 16 or 17 years old, you’ve already lost them. You have to reach these kids when they are six to 11 years-old.”

Wilson said that the attorney general’s office could work with technical colleges and nonprofit organizations to train and mentor at- risk youth before they get into the judicial system.

“The attorney general’s office could act as a “hub and a hotline” to bring all these organizations together and help direct businesses to the kids and kids to the businesses.”

While acknowledging that drug lords and drug traffickers must be prosecuted, Wilson said the underlying drug problem must also be addressed through supporting the state’s drug court program. “We must treat the drug problem- must support the drug court program, fix the foundation and try another approach.”

He noted that as attorney general, he would be open to sending teams of prosecutors down to local jurisdictions to help “clean up the local docket so local solicitors could focus on violent crimes.”

Wilson said that he had the endorsement of 19 Sheriffs throughout the state. “Because they know that I will support them." He said that he would support a program to retrain law enforcement officers on a quarterly basis to help them keep them up-to-date with technology. “We can make our Cops better,” he said.”

Wilson said that he would use the experience he learned from being in the military if elected as attorney general and that would mean; “Getting out there among the troops, be the first one up, last one to go to bed, last one to eat and show them that you support them.”