Horry County Police Chief Kris Leonhardt announced Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at the Horry County Council Public Safety Committee meeting that the Horry County Police Department will undergo a full management review by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, known as the HCPD IACP full agency review.
The review is expected to take nine months to a year. Leonhardt initiated the engagement himself. It is not a Council-ordered investigation, and it is not a federal pattern-and-practice probe by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Horry County is policed by more than one agency. The Horry County Police Department (HCPD) covers unincorporated Horry County. The Horry County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), led by Sheriff Phillip Thompson, is a separate constitutional office that runs the jail, court security and civil process.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department, Conway Police Department, North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety and Surfside Beach Public Safety are municipal agencies inside their own city limits. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is the state investigative agency. This review is about HCPD only.
Understanding the HCPD IACP Full Agency Review Process
What the review is — and what it isn’t
IACP is a member-based professional association headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Its Professional Services division conducts paid management studies for agencies that request them.
A full management study examines a department’s structure, operations, personnel, supervision, training, internal controls, complaint and discipline systems, technology, evidence handling and community relations. The review team comes on-site, interviews employees, runs staff focus groups, holds public input sessions, surveys the community, and analyzes departmental data and policy.
This HCPD IACP full agency review will provide valuable insights into departmental efficiency and community relations.
“This is done through a full review of independent folks through their team that come down and give us that information that helps us identify things that we’re doing well, things that we can do better, and you know, kind of lets us get a road map for the future as we grow,” Leonhardt said, according to WMBF News. He told the Post and Courier the reviewers are “going to possibly find things that we do well and things that we don’t do well.
The timeline is nine to 12 months.
Two distinctions matter. First, this IACP review is not the same thing as the CALEA accreditation HCPD is separately pursuing. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies runs a national certification program that can take up to 36 months. HCPD already holds South Carolina state accreditation. The IACP review is a one-time diagnostic, not a certification track. Second, this is a voluntary review the department asked for.
It is not a U.S. Department of Justice pattern-and-practice investigation, which is involuntary, requires DOJ Civil Rights Division authorization, and can end in a federal consent decree.
Who is involved and what they said
Leonhardt presented the announcement himself and acknowledged that the recent string of HCPD controversies factored in. “Obviously yes, those do spur you to look at what challenges you can do to make things better,” he told WMBF.
Public Safety Committee Chairman Danny Hardee told the Post and Courier the third-party structure was the point. If we do it, they’re going to say we’re biased,” Hardee said. So you’re going to get a third party to do it.” Council Chairman Johnny Gardner framed any change at the top of HCPD as harder than the public debate suggests. It’s not as simple as just taking the keys from one guy and giving it to the next guy,” Gardner said. District 3 Councilman Dennis DiSabato pushed back on the idea that a Sheriff’s Office takeover is around the corner. I don’t think a merger is imminent,” DiSabato said.
District 11 Councilman Al Allen said the review “also shows good professionalism and if it was easy every department would have it. And it’s a good goal and for us to have and something I think’ll pay off in the long run.”
County Administrator Barry Spivey, who took over from Steve Gosnell at the start of 2025, has not been quoted in initial coverage.
The multi-cause context
No single event triggered the review. Leonhardt described it as Chief-initiated, but a stacking series of public controversies set the stage. Each item below is drawn from public reporting and court records; none is an assertion of wrongdoing beyond what those records establish.
The 2023 Scott Spivey road-rage death investigation has unraveled in public. Spivey, 33, was shot and killed in September 2023 on Camp Swamp Road in Longs. The criminal case against suspects Weldon Boyd and Kenneth Williams remains open, and SLED and the FBI have been asked to review HCPD’s handling of it.
Former HCPD Deputy Chief Brandon Strickland, who oversaw the bureau that ran the Spivey investigation, resigned in March 2025 after learning of an internal-affairs inquiry and is now the subject of a SLED probe. Former Sgt. Paul Damon Vescovi, a detective on the same case, was separated from the agency. The Post and Courier has referenced forced retirements of four officers tied to Spivey.
Former Deputy Chief Lance Winburn’s retirement was announced April 28, 2026. Days later, around May 1, 2026, longtime Capt. Danny Furr filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Horry County, the police department, Chief Leonhardt, Winburn, Capt. Brandon Lee and Assistant County Administrator for Public Safety Renee Hardwick. Furr, a 27-year HCPD veteran, alleges retaliation and forced retirement after he addressed the Public Safety Committee in April about what he described as corruption, retaliation, irregular promotions and politically influenced policing. The defendants have not yet responded in court.
A separate multi-officer sex scandal earlier in Leonhardt’s tenure drew local TV coverage. The Waccamaw Publishers Editorial Board ran a May 2025 editorial asking whether it was time for “a Horry County police reset.” Sheriff Thompson renewed his call in April 2026 to merge HCPD into the Sheriff’s Office. Spivey’s sister, Jennifer Foley, has publicly backed the merger. State Rep. William Bailey introduced H. 4542 on May 8, 2025; the bill, which would require counties statewide to operate law enforcement through the sheriff and would in effect end HCPD as a stand-alone agency, is pending in the House Committee on Horry Delegation.
Leonhardt has not tied any single thread to the IACP decision.
What IACP reviews look like
The deliverable is a written report identifying strengths, deficiencies and recommendations.
Recent comparable engagements set expectations. Long Beach Police Department in California received an IACP assessment that drew years of public records litigation before release. Bennington Police Department in Vermont published its IACP final report and used it to drive a community-policing overhaul. The Massachusetts State Police published an IACP operational review of its training academy.
Implementation rests with the Chief and Horry County Council. IACP does not enforce its recommendations. It delivers a report.
HCPD today
HCPD lists 455 total personnel and 383 sworn officers on its agency history page at horrycountysc.gov. The department patrols unincorporated Horry County from a precinct structure that recently activated a fifth precinct.
Leonhardt took over as Chief on October 1, 2024. His predecessor, Joseph Hill, is no longer in the seat. Since Leonhardt’s start, the deputy chief tier has turned over twice — Strickland’s March 2025 resignation and Winburn’s April 28, 2026, retirement. WBTW has reported a successor to Strickland was named.
Beyond the IACP review, the department is pursuing CALEA national accreditation. The International Association for Property and Evidence has flagged unresolved concerns about HCPD evidence handling. Internal-affairs activity picked up in April 2026 after WMBF questions prompted what the station described as a new internal investigation.
The merger debate, sitting alongside
The IACP review lands in the middle of an active debate over consolidating HCPD into the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Thompson said in April his ask is simple: “The only thing I’m asking for is to give the citizens the opportunity.” A prior county analysis estimated consolidation costs above $650,000 with no projected long-term savings.
The Post and Courier reported that letting the IACP review proceed gives county officials an alternative to scheduling a fall 2026 consolidation referendum, with any ballot question possibly sliding to 2028. Horry County is the only remaining county-run police department in South Carolina. Charleston County merged its county police into the Sheriff’s Office in 1991. A 1998 Horry County referendum to abolish HCPD failed.
Leonhardt has not publicly tied the IACP review to the merger debate. The findings could feed it when they land. That is forecast, not advocacy.
What is next
The review begins on a nine-to-12-month clock. Whether the final report becomes public in full, in redacted form, or only as an executive summary remains undecided. The cost has not been disclosed. Whether County Council will hold a formal vote to accept or act on the findings has not been announced. Council’s Public Safety Committee, chaired by Hardee, will be the first stop for whatever IACP delivers.
The schedule for any Horry County public input sessions has not been published.
Leonhardt asked for the review. Council members have welcomed the third-party framing. The work product is what matters. Horry County residents will see whether IACP’s findings — and the response from HCPD and County Council — answer the open questions about the Spivey investigation, the Furr lawsuit, evidence handling, and the leadership churn at the top of the agency.
## Further Reading
– WMBF News — Horry County Police Department to undergo full agency review (June 10, 2026): https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/06/10/horry-county-police-department-undergo-full-agency-review/
– Post and Courier — Horry County Police Department outside review: https://www.postandcourier.com/myrtle-beach/news/horry-county-police-department-outside-review/article_afb667b5-74b1-4c93-b2a6-05675881bcab.html
– MyHorryNews — Meet HCPD’s new chief, Kris Leonhardt: https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/meet-horry-county-s-new-police-chief-kris-leonhardt/article_59578976-ab62-11ef-afb0-2b00e61228d2.html
– MyHorryNews — Lawsuit levels serious charges against HCPD leaders (Furr): https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/lawsuit-levels-serious-charges-against-hcpd-leaders/article_f99b210c-9688-43aa-8438-1be2f1b77333.html
– WMBF — Longtime Horry County police captain forced to retire, lawsuit says: https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/04/30/longtime-horry-county-police-captain-forced-retire-criticizing-leadership-lawsuit-says/
– WBTW — Horry County deputy police chief resigns after internal affairs probe: https://www.wbtw.com/news/grand-strand/horry-county/horry-county-deputy-police-chief-resigns-after-internal-affairs-probe/
– WMBF — Scott Spivey’s sister pushes law enforcement consolidation: https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/04/22/scott-spiveys-sister-pushes-law-enforcement-consolidation-horry-county/
– MyHorryNews editorial — “Is it time for a Horry County police reset?”: https://www.myhorrynews.com/opinion/editorial-is-it-time-for-a-horry-county-police-reset/article_2f835769-b8bc-4516-ba1d-b84f5595bc04.html
– IACP — Management Studies: https://www.theiacp.org/management-studies
– IACP — Professional Services: https://www.theiacp.org/professional-services
– Horry County — Police Department history (personnel counts): https://www.horrycountysc.gov/departments/police/about/history/
– CALEA — Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies: https://www.calea.org/
