SC Police Department Argued It Was Exempt from Federal Mask Rule at Airports. It Wasn’t.

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of The Sun News’ investigation into Horry County Police Department’s refusal to follow the federal mask mandate at Myrtle Beach International Airport. Read the full investigation here. You can also read another excerpt, about how HCPD said “no one will care” that it’s officers were violating the mandate, here.

Horry County Police officers working at the Myrtle Beach airport since last July have failed to wear masks, seemingly in violation of the federal mask mandate that has been in place since February 2021. And though the department claimed in internal emails that it was exempt from the federal Transportation Security Administration mask rule, the TSA says that is not true.

While it declined to share this information publicly, the police department argued it had an exemption from the mandate because wearing masks, it said, could pose a “health risk” to officers and prevent them from being able to properly do their jobs, according to emails obtained through the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

The core of that belief was based on conversations with TSA, which said the department could qualify for that exemption, it just needed to formally request it, emails between TSA’s Federal Security Director for South Carolina David McMahon and the police department said.

But, TSA spokesman Mark Howell told The Sun News, Horry County police never did request an exemption and so were not formally granted one.

McMahon noted that Myrtle Beach International Airport was the only airport he, or anyone else he spoke with at the TSA, knew of that had issues complying with the mask rule. To make life easier, McMahon even sent over special microfiber masks for the police officers that would be more comfortable and protected against the wearer’s glasses getting fogged up.

Horry County Police never asked for that TSA exemption, Howell confirmed. Given the chance to obtain an out from the mask requirement at the airport, something no other police department in the nation had apparently done, the Horry County department never followed through.

“No exception to the mask mandate was authorized,” the TSA said in a statement.

Even so, Horry County Police officers continued to ignore the federal mask mandate, a rule that held the force of law and could result in thousands of dollars in fines.

As the officers ignored the mask mandate over the course of seven months, The Sun News inquired on three occasions why that was so. Each time, the county declined to answer detailed questions and instead said that it was in compliance with the mandate, even though the actions of the officers seemed to be showing the opposite was true.

Shortly after the police department was offered the chance to request an exemption, Police Chief Joseph Hill said in an email to Police Lt. TJ Mueller that he expected all officers working at the airport to be wearing masks.

There was one caveat: Hill said he believed that officers were still following the “spirit of the mandate” if they were masked in most areas but not when standing or sitting at a designated police podium on the west end of the terminal. The idea was that cordons around the podium provided some level of social distancing, and any guests who approached the podium would be asked to put on a mask if they weren’t wearing one, emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show.

“I firmly believe we are following the spirit of the mandate if we have our masks on, but down while at the podium,” Hill said in an email on Aug. 21. “If a passenger approaches please have them mask up. That’s a very visible post, so this may continue to bite us if we are not careful.”

However, the federal mask mandate does not allow for such an exception. It states that everyone, regardless of their job, is expected to be wearing a mask when inside the terminal.

Without any exemption, or special exception, Horry County Police officers working at the airport continued to violate the federal government’s mask mandate for months. At times, the department did so under the assumption that “no one will care.”

“Based on my monitoring of social media, no one will care, no one that matters,” Hill told a police lieutenant in an Aug. 7 email.

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