David P. Caraker

Dave grew up in Florence, attending Francis Marion College, earning a B.S. in Economics. He got hired on with the Horry County Police Department, and graduated as a Distinguished Graduate from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. He was certified as an Instructor by the Academy, teaching both at his department and at the Academy as a guest instructor. In addition to becoming an instructor, Dave was also on the Honor Guard, as well as being on the Critical Incident Negotiations Team. Dave also served on the County's domestic abuse advisory board.

As a police officer, Dave worked in the Uniformed Patrol Division before being promoted to Detective. As a Detective, Dave first worked investigating domestic violence, domestic homicides, and sexual assault cases. Later, his duties in the violent crimes section of the Detective Division expanded to include investigating homicides, criminal sexual conduct, robbery, kidnapping, and aggravated assault cases. The last few years of his career in law enforcement were spent in the Special Operations Division, Narcotics and Vice section. In his role as a narcotics detective, he investigated numerous major drug trafficking cases, gambling cases, and prostitution offenses.

Dave graduated from Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, cum laude, in May 2011. During his time in law school, he clerked for the 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's office, eventually becoming the senior law clerk.