What’s Driving East Baton Rouge Crime: EBR Sheriff Sid Gautreaux

In this episode of “Louisiana Unfiltered” Sheriff Sid Gautreaux and Detective Scott Henning join Kiran Chawla to discuss the Crime Rate statistics in 2025 for the capital city and the measures they have taken such as a new Gang Intelligence Unit to lower the crime rate. 

Chapters
01:46 Interview with Sheriff Sid Gautreaux
19:43 Gang Activity 
26:11 Drug Enforcement Achievements
29:11 Fentanyl and Its Impact
41:16 Juvenile Crime Trends
49:58 The Role of Family in Crime
54:05 Judicial System Challenges
1:02:11 Jail Conditions and Future Plans

Local Sponsors for this episode include:
Neighbors Federal Credit Union:
Another Chance Bail Bonds:
Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers

Sound and Editing for this audio podcast by Envision Podcast Production:

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is sponsored by Doli de Bojer injury lawyers
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Our team is here to protect your rights and get results.
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Speaker 2 (00:13):
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Or visit delidboja dot com.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Responsible Attorney James Pelcha Betrouge.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Is crime really down in East bount Roache Parish? Are
fewer people dying from overdoses? This week we go straight
to the source. East Bount Roach Parish Sheriff Sid go
True He joins us for a special uncut conversation. What's
driving most of the crime? One word drugs, from fetnohl

(00:59):
to gangtivity. The sheriff says, a new gang intelligence unit
is making a serious dent less fetnol on the streets.
Fewer overdose debts, major criminals taken down, But is it enough?
We dig into the numbers, the challenges in what's happening

(01:21):
behind the scenes at the jail, the juvenile detention center
and with federal partners working to clean up our streets.
I'm Kieran Challa and this is Louisiana, unfiltered. Welcome back everyone.

(01:48):
I'm going to go ahead and venture off and say
we have a very rare guest in today. East matt
Ridge Parish sheriff said Gotro, as well as their homicide
one of their homicide supervisors, Lieutenant Scott Henning. Yes, thank
you both for joining us.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Thank you, Sheriff.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
I want to kind of cut to the chase, and
obviously your sheriff, law and top law enforcement official for
East Bounton Roach Parish, and that's the capitol parish. A
lot that happens here is seen statewide, if not nationally.
Let's go straight to talking about where does crime stand

(02:27):
overall in East Mountain Roach Parish.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, you know, there's some strides that have been made, and
of course, but care I don't look at the stats.
The only stat I'm interested in is how people feel
or they feel safe. Do they feel safe in their community,
that they feel safe in the parish, and until those

(02:50):
numbers keep go down. Some of them have gone down
a little, but if we want to get them down
even further, and that's what we strive to do. You know,
to me, it's all about providing a service and safety
and protection to all of our citizens. And I don't
care where you live, whether in a gayety community or

(03:10):
whether you're in one of the poorest areas of East
veterans Paris. Everybody deserves that. Everybody deserves to live in
a safe environment, and that's what we strive to do
at the Sheriff's office. So that that's the only stat
I don't play the numbers game, because you know, sometimes
numbers can be manipulated, and I don't. I don't. I
don't go there with that. It is what it is.

(03:34):
But in far as sid Gotro's concerned Sheriff, the stats
are not where I would like to see them. Yet
there is some and I'm sure Scott will tell you
there's some areas that we're making some progress in and
we're very proud of what we're doing. But until we
can get it lowered, we're never going to eliminate it,

(03:54):
but we need we need to get it lowered. In
my opinion, so.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
You said that you kind of based on how people feel.
What is your perception of how East mount Ridge feels
right now?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, I think there's a lot of concern, a whole
lot of concern about people's safety. I hear it every day.
People talk to me every day about it, and it's
like I say, it's all over and you're not just
because you live in a gated community or whatever, you're
not immune from it. And people travel throughout the parish,
whether they shopping or going to see friends or whatever,

(04:25):
are going to work. You know, I want them to
feel safe no matter where they are, and that's what
we're striving to do. But there, you know, some of it,
some of it is because they haven't had proper information.
As far as I'm concerned. You got to inform them
and you've got to tell them what's happening and what why,

(04:47):
why it's happening, and where we are. But you know,
I'm not big on stats. Stats give you it, e
gauges you where you are, but it's not too on
the whole story either way, whether it goes up or
go down. So and I'm sure Scott agree with that.
We just strive to, you know, present ourselves to people

(05:10):
in the way that we're here to help you, and
we want to help you and we want to work
with you. And we've been getting some We've always gotten
great results from the public no matter what happens. And
you know, you've been in the middle of a lot
of it. No matter what happens, we get people calling
us while we're still on the scene. And that that
I'm very proud of that, because I'm proud of the

(05:32):
men and women that serve in East Batterie Parish Sheriff's Office.
We've got some wonderful men and women who serve it there,
and they serve for the right reason and the only
reason to be in law enforcement. And you know this
is to serve. You know, that's all we do. We don't,
matter of facture some good or sell some commodity, whatever.
We just provide a service and that's to serve and
protect and protect all the people in the parish, no

(05:54):
matter where you live or who you are. And that's
the only stat I'm worried about. But whether it's perceived
or whether it's real, people are very concerned about their
safety and rightfully so. Uh And that's the only stat
I'm interested in. Until that takes a nose dive and
get we make in progress. But until that makes a

(06:17):
nose dive and gets where I don't want to ever
say where, you can live with it. But you know,
like I said, you can't eliminate at all, but we
can do everything in the world we can in our
power to try to make East Batteries Paris is safe
for a place to live as possible.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
You and I have worked together long enough, you know
that I'm pretty not pretty. I am very straightforward and
very transparent. The perception that we have in speaking with
other officials as well, is straight up, we're terrified to
go into Baton Rouge. Some of that is the city itself,
be it downtown, but driving through the Interstates, a lot
of people are choosing not to go into Baton Rouge anymore.

(06:56):
They're preferring to stay in West Baton Rouge or go
to Gonzalez, go to Jubn And the proof in the
pudding is that the crime is starting to pick up
in those outlying cities that border East Bounton Ridge Parish
because people prefer to go into those parishes and stay
out of East Banton Ridge Parish. So I understand what

(07:18):
you're saying that the stats like for you, but we've
also heard in the past or I think the Banton
Rich police chief said that the stats and again he's
only city, you guys are parish, but traditionally, their numbers
have been a lot higher, a lot higher than y'all's.
They are starting to see a little bit of a decrease.
So are there some numbers, Lieutenant, that we can look

(07:39):
at to even say, hey, compared to last year, we
had X number of murders so far this year and
this year we're at X number.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
Yeah, so we have seen a decrease from year to year,
from twenty four to twenty five. As of July of
this year, we're down the sheriff's offices down. We investigated
fourteen orders last year, we're down to ten this year.
So roughly it looks my ass right around twenty eight
percent decrease, but that's still we're still up traditionally where

(08:11):
we've seen, say, go back ten years ago, we're still
a lot higher than we were. So, like the sheriff
was saying, that the numbers are a little deceiving, you know,
when you look at year to year, Yeah, you may
see a decrease, but just because it's decreasing for what
last year was our highest number. To share our office itself,
we investigate our highest number of U see our homicides last.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Year, and we ever the final number last year.

Speaker 5 (08:32):
Last year was I believe it was thirty two. You
see our homicides last year, that end record in recent
history for sure. So when you're looking at an outlier
like that where our numbers are really high last year,
to see a decrease, it can be a little miss misinformed, right,

(08:54):
because your numbers aren't. There's not that big of a
decrease when you're looking maybe going back further years.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
What would you say traditionally has been like your average
number at this point five six, seven, No.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
I mean we're looking generally your total probably around twenty
or so as our year total. But here we are again,
we're only halfway through the year and we're already at fourteen,
So to say our numbers are down isn't necessarily correct.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
Like the sheriff was saying, you mean ten, you said fourteen.
I'm sorry, we're at ten, fourteen.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Fourteen ten. Well to either one of you guys here,
if you've been doing this forever, summer is usually the
peak season of unfortunately murders. How are y' all seeing
numbers so far this summer? We're halfway through the summer,
if you want to call it that, all right.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, we always gear up for the summer months because
kids are out of school and it just seems to
be more idle time or whatever. I'm getting in trouble.
But it's you know, for us, uh, you know, we can't.
We know our stats are less than what Battery cities are,

(10:07):
and we know that a lot of these activities occurring
inside the city. Not that we don't have hours, because
we do. We just spoke of it. But you know,
it's it affects everybody. It affects me as sheriff. It
affects every everybody living in East Batteries Parish. And I
tell you what people know, and it's not put out

(10:29):
there that much. Excuse me, it's not put out there
that much. But you know, we got shot spotters, which
you know what they are. They anytime of shots are
fired where we have a shot shot spot are located,
it tells us, you know, to respond to that area.
It tell us how many rounds were fired. Due to

(10:49):
the sound of it, They'll tell us it sounds like
a fully automatic, semi automatic and even a rifle or
a pistol. And when you look at the total numbers
of every thing or the shots fired the people's houses,
that are shot up, cars that are shot up. Nobody
may have been hit, but that's all things that drive

(11:10):
fear factor up. And the people living in those areas
know what's going on, so you're not. You can't tell
them everything's down or you gotta you know, I mean not,
I can't uh, and I won't because the reality is
they're living there and they know how many shots have
been fired in their neighborhood. Uh, and that gets to

(11:31):
be quite a regular occurrence. Yes, well, and you don't
know either. A lot of times you're not reported on
unless it's a fatality, somebody's been killed. You don't know
the times that people may have been nicked by bullet
or shot and they go in for treatment, and that
that that never gets reported.

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like you, I don't know if it's in UCR numbers,
but last year or something we did we dove into

(13:25):
the numbers where it's non fatal shootings and there was
in Baton Ridge alone, there was a significant increase in those.
So it's good news that people aren't dying, but yeah,
it's bad news that there's still a lot of attempts
to kill people. Lieutenant, let me ask you this that
the numbers, Let's back up overall, there are obviously other

(13:49):
crimes that impact the day to day person. If a
woman's purse is stolen off of her, that's pretty tragic
for a woman.

Speaker 6 (13:56):
Oh absolutely, It doesn't have.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
To be shooting, a rape, vehicle, stolen, your car, broken
into all those crimes they do they impact you. Could
you give us any insight into where that stands? And
I don't need exact numbers there, but are you starting
to see even a broader number, a broader Can you
broadly say that overall everything is starting to come down.

Speaker 7 (14:22):
And share it?

Speaker 4 (14:23):
Feel for you step in if you know that.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, I mean it's I would say, maybe starting to
come down. But like I said, as far as those
specific things, you know, what we do see now is
that more people have access to the information, right, It's
more things getting shared on social media, More things are
getting pushed out by different people, different platforms, different So
I think it's it's kind of in people's faces more

(14:46):
than what it was in the past. So I think
that they're they're seeing it a lot more so that
may skew the perception as opposed to what the true
numbers are, Like the sheriff was alluding to earlier, with
people's reception versus is their reality and if they live there,
that's their reality.

Speaker 4 (15:04):
Everybody's on that.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, and that's true. Scott's exactly right, And that's that's
what I that's the way I feel. I mean, you
know what, I don't know what's going on everything in
your neighborhood. You know more than me, but you they
we get we get shared information a lot. And that's
what one thing I'm proud of with the men and
women in the office that these guys these gals out

(15:27):
on the street, they get they make uh they cross
bridges with people, they join together with people, so they're
actually getting the feel of the community that we serve
and they know what's going on. We have a great
homicide clearance rate. What is it right now, Scot, You
know it's in around eighty percent, yeah, which nationwide, what

(15:47):
is fifty six percent?

Speaker 7 (15:49):
Around fifty yeah, Yeah, And it's because of the fact
that these men and women work as hard as they
do and that but they're out in the community and
that unity has bonded with them, so to speak, and
we've created some trust between us and the communities that we.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Serve, and they give us a lot of information. That's
one reason we clear as many as we do so.
But it's all it goes back to perception, you know,
And that's what I said earlier, how somebody feels, whether
it's perceived or real, that is my concern. And until

(16:27):
I can get the parish to a point, or we
can get the parish to a point, I don't like
to use eye because it's a team. But if we can,
you know, get where we want to be, I think
the public is going to be a lot more at
ease over things. And but you look, you talk about
ryding the interstate. I never was like this, but in

(16:50):
recent years, I've got where when I'm traveling anywhere, I'm
looking to see who's next to me at a stop
sign or red light. I look to see who's coming
up behind me on the interstate. I mean, I'm very,
very aware of those things. And you know, not to
say I wasn't paying attention, but I pay a whole
lot closer attention my surroundings now than I did five

(17:14):
or six years ago.

Speaker 4 (17:15):
Well let's one second, or go ahead.

Speaker 5 (17:19):
Well, I was just gonna piggyback what the sheriff said,
and I think the same thing that he's seeing, and
I found myself doing the same thing. You know, you're
maybe a little less hesitant to honk at the horn
when somebody's sitting at the red light and it turns
green as you would have been in the past it.
And I think we're because those things do happen, right,
I mean, there's been several interstate shootings. There's been several
of these high profile incidents that we all know about,

(17:40):
the public knows about. So I think on the same token,
us in our everyday lives, we find ourselves in that
same situation like the citizens are, like he said, where
you're a little more aware of your surroundings, kind of
who's in the car next to you at the red light,
who's in front of you, who's behind you. Oh yeah,

(18:00):
to some extent, we're living that same reality that the
citizens feel too.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
Makes sense, And I guess like these are things that
are outside of anybody's control. People are short tempered, people
are living in a I needed everything done right this second.
And one of the biggest problems that I see on
the roadways is the distraction of a phone in your hands.
So I guess, as sheriff, you brought up a very
valid point to everybody. It sounds like you're saying you

(18:29):
kind of need to be more aware of your surroundings
at all times. There's only so much law enforcement can do.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
That's right, that's right. We can't be everywhere every minute,
and we try to be as most as many places
as we can, but we'll never have we's short right
now about one hundred. We're not that much, about seventy
five eighty. We're somewhere down abound seventy five to eighty deputies.
So we don't have the personnel that we want to

(18:57):
have to serve, but we're getting there. We have a
robust you know, Carl Davidee is over my recruiting and
my training and all that, and he's done him and
his people have done a tremendous job. So we go
out and we go to the job fairs and we
reach out. We started to get some good, good applicants.
But you know, my point is that it's the perception

(19:22):
of some people, and we got to try to change
the perception. If it's not really that bad, okay, but
if it is that bad, here's what we're doing, and
we're trying to do more in your area. But it
all boils down to personnel too. You know. We just
right now every division I have is sharp and like
I say, we got about eighty eighty five spots open.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
Well, speaking of perception, one of the biggest things that
we have seen coming out of eastpunt Riach Parish is
multiple gang arrests. And hill Or Moore, just Srit attorney
an he spunt Reach Parish for the longest time, refused
to admit we have gangs. He's explained himself that he
refers to gangs as what you were used to seeing
on TV, the New York gangs. But there are groups.

(20:07):
He calls them groups. But the truth is they do.
These young kids are forming a small little gang three
four or five people's and maybe they're selling drugs, maybe
it's something, but they refer to themselves as gangs.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
Your game task force has been enormous in making some major, major,
major arrests and then so once you talk about that,
but number two, you're serving the entire parish when it
comes to gain task force because Baton Reach PT does
not have that.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
That's right. Well, thank you for bringing this up. It's
something that I'm quite proud of when I'm proud of
men and women that serve in that gang unit. But
back May a year ago, I had had the vision
that I wanted to and I saw what was happening
and what I say, and I call them gangs. And

(20:59):
you know when you got four or five, six of them,
ten them, twelve of them, they're involved in some kind
of criminal enterprise. They're shooting each other and you know
it's gangs. Now do I think we do we have
any really hardcore gangs. I don't believe we do. Uh,
we don't have like the Crypts and Bloods and all
of Ms. Thirteen and all this stuff. And I hope

(21:20):
and pray we never do. But but we still have
gangs here and and uh, you know that's one of
the that's what prompted me to form what we formed
as far as our Gang Intelligence and Enforcement Group, and
we brought together all the factions necessary. We brought together narcotics,

(21:43):
brought together our street crimes unit, we took him the
gang intel through our and our Crime Information Center that
we bring all that together and we got work very
closely with VCU and in there in there people as well. Uh.
And you know, the Violent Crime UH unit was started

(22:04):
back when Chief la Duff was in office and he
and I and Hiller, UH we went to the State
Police and said, we need a space to put all
of our detectives, all of the BAT detectives working together
with our federal partners in one location and us at
the State Police, and we work close with the Fusion
Center and all that stuff. But I'm very proud of

(22:26):
what they've done because when I task them to do this,
I said, look, I'm not interested in seeing how many
people y'all can go put in jail. I'm talking about users.
We could fill up the jail ten times over if
we wanted, you know, doing that. But I'm interested in
the dealers at whatever level, the bigger the better. And

(22:46):
they're just unbelievable what they've accomplished. I mean, it's just
their stats well speak for themselves. And I got that
with you. I want to share it with you.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
But and while you're looking that up, sure if I
want to clarify you said that, like you have narcotics
gang intelligence. So the task force is it kind of
like maybe a person or two people from each of those.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
No, it's it's the whole divisions. When you look at
the the narcotics enforcement, it's all of them. When we
look at our Scout Unit, which is a street company,
it's all of them. And these people work all together
daily basis. You know, it's our street I mean, our
gang Intelligence unit and all of that stuff that gets

(23:35):
all the intel force and we work with them, and
we work with our federal partners as well, and we've
hitten some very high profile cases. We really have, and
that that's what we're doing. Let me find these stats.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
So it's when he's saying that, it's not a person
from narcotics.

Speaker 6 (23:54):
So it's the entire divisions that have been brought together.
So it's the same.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
So, yeah, it's their entire narcotics vision, the entire street
crime Scout team, UH, Scout Division, UH, the new Gang
Intelligence which is specific to intelligence for gang related activity.
Those entire divisions are brought together, similar to what we
have at the Violent Crime Unit. So it's our entire
homicide division, Batner's Police Departments, entire homicide division. It's a

(24:20):
they're not they're not all under one roof like we are.
But yes, it's the entire division. It's not just a
handful of guys from each division kind of doing their
own thing.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
This is a team.

Speaker 5 (24:31):
Effort, a collaborative effort between all those divisions that fall
under that umbrella.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Makes sense. You got the stature.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, I'm laughing at myself. I'm going all through my
notes and it was the top page.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
Uh you need more coffee shore, Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
From from January through July this year, UH, our Gang
Inte Intelligence UH and Enforcement Unit, which I've said is
SCAT unit Narcotics and Gang Intel. They've made over one
hundred and one arrest. They've seized one hundred and eighty
six firearms, nineteen of which were stolen. They've confiscated twelve

(25:13):
pounds of VENTTYL, two thousand and six hundred and sixty
seven press venttal pills, four point eight pounds of crack cocaine,
fifteen point four pounds of myth, five hundred and fifteen
pounds of marijuana, lower tabs, oxy cotton, md M A,

(25:36):
prometheesne tap. It's all of the drugs. But and this
is just in that time from January to now of
this year, we've already confiscated over a million dollars in
funds too that they had. We seized five vehicles and

(25:58):
three stolen vehicles, and we got n iven hits on
some of the stuff that we got, like guns and
stuff on eleven different cases. But I'm gonna take you
back further. Since we started this gang intelligence unit and
enforcement unit, which was a year agoing May, we've arrested

(26:20):
over one thousand drug dealers. We've confiscated over a thousand firearms,
which many of which are stolen. Many of them are
automatic converters, they've had converters in them. We've as we
sit here today, in that time span, we have confiscated

(26:40):
enough fentanyl in single dosage to almost killed twice of
the populace of LSU Stadium on a Saturday night. That's
a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
We we were last year when I talked about it,
or year before that, well it was last year when
I talked about it. We were had enough we related
it to all the people in Tiger Stadium on a
Saturday night. It's going on double that right now. And
the last arrest we made was quite big. But we've

(27:13):
we've we've busted some cartels that we're trying to set
up shop here, were working of course, were working with
out of state agencies as well as US here in
Baton Rouge, and were working with our federal partners as well.
But it's just been a phenomenal deal on where we
started and where we're going, and we all saw the

(27:36):
value of doing this. But everybody off task, everybody that
works in that, everybody works in VCU, they're all totally
dedicated to this and doing what we can and take
as much off the streets as we possibly can. Uh.
And like I say, most of we have had some
street level dealers that we've taken off, but we're after

(27:57):
every dealer. But the bigger the.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
Better because those are the distributors to the smaller deals.
Would you say that drugs appears to be the root
cause a pretty much majority of crime.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, I would say it does. It's either some you know,
you got a lot of addicts that are committing petty thefts,
you know, burglarizing vehicles, whatever, and they're stealing it to
getting Bunny to buy drugs. So the users do have
an impact on this. But then again, when you have
a market in the United States is the biggest market

(28:35):
in the world for igalist drugs. When you have that
kind of market, you're gonna have people that's going to
try to benefit off of that, and that's what these
gangs are doing. They're selling not on a big scale, and.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
We've been doing a deep dive into OD numbers. Overdoses
are down significantly, and not just in East Mountain Rich Parish.
A lot of our neighboring pairs are down as well.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
A lot of those are fetanyl numbers. Fetanyl has been
the drug of choice for i'd say the last three
four or five years. Things really picked up when it
came to fetanyl. Would you say it is your Gain
Intelligence Task Force that's made a major dent in that.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
I would say it is because you know, I'm not
I can sit here and sing our praises, but when
you got the DA in the Attorney General and our
federal partners all the way up to Washington, that are
commending our people for what they're doing, we know we're
hitting on the right thing. So yeah, I would definitely
say the work that these men and women are putting

(29:39):
into this, their dedication to it, I mean, they're totally
ingrained in the task here and it shows what the
work that they've done on the streets, and I think
that Scott, you might want to touch on the correlation
of you know, how we take somebody off the street
like that.

Speaker 5 (29:59):
So yeah, So so we as the homicide Division, we
have a great work in relationship with the gang unit
and specifically the narcotics guys when it comes to the
Fitnel overdose and we've had a lot of success. We've
in the last probably a year maybe two years, we've
kind of tweaked the way we're handling those overdose death
investigations to kind of bring them in on the front end,

(30:24):
so essentially without getting in a whole lot of case specifics.
But what we're doing now is that so if we
respond to an overdose death, our detectives are going to
go out there, They're going to have their crime scene
texts and all that, they're going to go and do
their their investigation, and at any point in that investigation,
whether it's at the scene or through the follow up,
if we get any actionable intelligence, so something that we

(30:45):
can actually try and work with, whether it be a
name of a dealer or phone number, any any of
those type of identifiers that we have something that we
can do.

Speaker 6 (30:55):
We're going to immediately reach out to our narcotics division.

Speaker 5 (30:57):
We have an agent that's assigned as kind of our
from them to us, and he's gonna come either to
the scene to the office. We're gonna brief, we're gonna
look at that, share that information, and while we're working
the death investigation aspect of it, they're gonna initiate an
independent with parallel investigation into the narcotic side of it

(31:20):
to see what they can do to further identify the dealer.
And our goal is to, you know, if we're able
to identify that dealer, is not just say okay, this
person that sold the drugs to Joe Smith that caused
their death, but to establish that that dealer is in
fact a drug dealer and this wasn't a one time deal.
This wasn't they found some drugs in a parking lot

(31:41):
and they sold it to support their own habit, Right,
We're trying to establish that these are in fact drug
dealers that are pushing these products. So what they're doing
as they're going, they're gonna run their parallel investigation while
we're doing the death side, and if they're able to
identify the dealer and make their own case. If you
we'll establish our own problem, cause they're gonna work the

(32:03):
dope end of it, and we're gonna kind of come
in on the backside to you. And we've seen a
lot of success with that.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
It's almost two for one because if there it really
is doing that, then they have now another case they
can follow when it comes to the gang intelligence.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
Correct, so and they can continue working that. The narcotics
end is as far as it'll take them. And while
you know, toxicology takes time on our ends, you know,
it's hard for us to charge. We can't charge somebody
until we have an official cause of death from the
corner's office. So those things take time. But we're not
gonna sit back six or eight weeks and wait for
a cause of death and then initiate investigation.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
We're gonna do that. We're gonna initiate that as early
on as we can.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (32:40):
And here recently just kind of highlight a case that
we've had. Back in June, we had one of those
cases where we went to an overdose death, uh and
while we were on scene, we received the information from
a source there that led us to some information about
the dealer called our narcotics agents. They came over, met

(33:03):
with us at the scene, ended up going up to
the VCU. We did some interviews with them and the
source that provided the information to us read it, get
some identity identifiers and got the deal identified. But what
we've determined is that the dealer actually lived in a
neighboring parish. He was an Ascension parish. He was not
Innie Spatner's parish. So from there it kind of branched out.

(33:26):
Those narcotics guys reached out to their counterparts and Ascension
we passed along that information, shared that information with them.
They were able to work that up, established their own
essential problem calls on that dealer in his residence based
in Ascension Parish. Ascension went executed search warrants and they
get over a pound of fentanyl from this particular person's house.

(33:49):
And this was just very recently, in the last couple
of weeks, they were able to get over a pound
of fentantel, half a pound of cocaine, multiple firearms, things
like that. And here just an the last few days,
we've received toxicology results back on the overdose side of it,
and last Thursday or Friday, we've attain this an arrest

(34:09):
warrant for that person for second degree murder and he's
currently in Ascensions jail with a detainer waiting to be brought.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
Back to the spatner's parish. So they do work right.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
So from mid end of June to middle of July,
we've gone from seeing response dealer identified, established that this
is a dealer. A large amount of narcotics has been
seized in this case by Ascension Shriff's office, but as
part of the information that was originated in our investigation
ties their dealer and then we're able to come full

(34:38):
circle with toxicology results and our own investigation on the
death side of it and charge that person with second
gary murder.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Well, and I feel like science has improved so much
too that now and now it's a law on the
books where if you provide the drugs to someone and
you're able to prove your drugs are what led to
someone's death, that's murder now, right.

Speaker 5 (34:59):
We've had several and what we've done is getting with
with last year kind of when around the time when
the gang unit kind of started and we had an
internal what can we do to make this all better? Right,
we've all been doing this work, but what are we
what could we do better? What how do we strengthen
our overdose cases h and our overdose prosecutions on the
death side of it. And through those conversations and conversations

(35:22):
with Hill or Moore and his staff, that's one of
the things that we came up with was not just
establishing that this person sold the drugs to the person
has deceased, but that pattern of establishing that they are
drug dealers, right, and that this isn't a one time
thing or a happenstance. This is who they are, this
is what they do, this is their how they support themselves,

(35:45):
and they're the ones that are distributing in these drugs
in our community and are also the ones that are
responsible for this person's death.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
Well, and it sounds like listening to you guys, it
sounds like you have really flushed out the root of
the problem of drugs. Of course, you're going to have
arguments that lead up to a deadly shooting that's gonna happen,
but the big, big, big problem is drugs, and you
guys have really truly made a dent in that in

(36:15):
eastbound rich Parish.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Well and yet we have, and thank you for saying that.
I've got some more stats for you than some of
what we talked about, will give you a little more clarity.
Our agents estimate that eighty percent or more of the
violent crime in our parish is committed by street level
gang members and drug dealers. So that's very high. And

(36:38):
of course drugs and gangs go hand in hand. Many
of the shootings on roberts Burgers and weapons cases can
be traced back to gangs. So let's go back to
what a gang is. The US Department of Justice defines
a street gang as a group of three or more
individuals who share a common name or identifying sign symbol,

(37:00):
whose primary purpose is to commit illegal activities. So that's
what we had. Yeah, And you know, I think there's
a reason these gangs pray off or whatever they have
in their in their area to prayoff of one reason.
I think the hard those gangs, the buzz, the crips,

(37:21):
the MS thirteen, they can't get lost in batteries. We're
not a big metropolitan area. You can't get lost, uh,
And I think that's one reason. Because of the number
of people and all these things started out in California, Chicago,
New York. But but they go to these bigger cities

(37:42):
right now, That's what it surprised us when we got
that one cartel that we hit, uh that we worked
with with miss authorities in Mississippi and or they were
they had several We hit it what over a year ago,
I guess right after we well not that long, probably
six eight months ago. But but they were trying to

(38:02):
set up shop in this area, and they had locations
not only in East bent Raache Parish, but they had
locations in Ascension Parish in here in Livingston, and we
all work together to get that out. But there's just
the populace is not here for them. So that's why

(38:24):
you have local gangs because they're doing the same thing,
but they're.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Doing on the smaller scale.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Smaller scale. That's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Well, let me ask you this. All the fetanyl or
all the drugs that you guys confiscate, confiscate, obviously, all
of that is properly discarded after the case is completely
over with.

Speaker 6 (38:42):
Correct, Yes, it's all destroyed.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
None of that can go back out on the streets.
So all that is product taking off the streets.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
Once it's in our custody, it will never see the
streets again.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
And that's huge. You said twelve pounds of fetanyl correct in.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
This year, just this year, that's just this year. Yeah,
we've like I say, in uh, for the individual doses,
lethal doses, just we're talking about one hundred more than
you know, probably one hundred and seventy five thousand people

(39:22):
that could have that could have potentially died from those
individual doses of fentanyl. And you know, that's it. But
I think because of the changing, like you know, the
law changed in this last session to give to treat
fentanyl like we used to treat a heroin. And so
there's mandatory sentences now. And I think the work that's

(39:45):
being done from the enforcement side and now having to
be able to charge them with more, more severe crimes
with more penalty to them, that's somewhat that has kind
of stunded. But it hadn't stopped the gangs. The street
gangs are still doing it. But I think it has
helped us to nobody wants to go to jail for

(40:08):
twenty years, thirty years, you know, and that's.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Oh okay, you leave it, sorry, Oh okay, you can
come back in Okay, thirty seven forty one.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Sorry, no, that's all right.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
Thirty seven forty one, Well, Sheriff, Well, while we're on
a break, are there other things that you guys want
to make sure we hit on. I want to talk
about juveniles and increase in crime when it comes to juveniles.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
What else?

Speaker 4 (40:43):
I want to also talk about the judicial system if
you guys are seeing the revolving door as much as
BRPD is, Like, that's one thing BRPD is, they're so
sick and tired of it.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Well, we have the same judges.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
Yeah, so I want to talk about those two things.
But in your notes or stuff, is there anything else
do you want to make sure we touch on. We're
in a break.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Let me look over and see if there's anything. Yeah,
I've already touched on how close homicide and what a
valuable part they play in this gang intelligence deal as well.

(41:27):
But we also work with our school Drug Task Force
members too.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
We can talk we can include that in juveniles juvenile crime.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
No, I'm good, Okay, thank you, Jim.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
Picking back up at thirty nine oh five, Well, let's
kind of shift gears. I want to talk about are
you guys starting to see an increase in a lot
of the suspects being juveniles.

Speaker 5 (41:53):
Yes, definitely, we're starting to see, you know, these younger
and younger kids that have access to guns, uh for
whatever reason, whether they're the ones that are stealing them
out of unlocked vehicles, stealing them from family members you know,
unknowingly that have them around their house, whatever it is.
But yes, we've definitely seen an increase in the number

(42:14):
of juvenile offenders in young teens. You know, they may
not seventeen year olds aren't necessarily juveniles by law anymore. Uh,
but seeing those those kids in that that that range,
that age range, late teens.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Do you know why though, Well.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
I think the older the older members that are involved
in gangs, they know they're looking at stifferent penalties by
by buying and selling, So they get these younger kids
who are underage juveniles to go. They bring them into
full so to speak, and they get them out there
doing that stuff because they know that they're their penalty

(42:51):
is the juvenile is not gonna be anything like what
the penalties are for an adult. So I think they're
actually recruiting more younger members into it. In fact, we
got one group that's pretty much all underage under age
of individuals. So I think that has a lot to
do with it. But uh, and I think it's corps

(43:12):
a direct coralition to increasing the penalties with an adult
because there's certain you know, you're gonna get a lot
more time now with the with the laws that they
changed in the legislature, uh in regards to Fenel. So uh,
I think that's it. But they and look, you know,

(43:33):
it just blows my mind. But a lot of these
kids that are pulling triggers on each other, they don't care,
and they don't care who they hit, a child or
innocent child or anybody. They don't care.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
And that's why I said the why, it just appears
that there's no regard for life anymore.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
And that's that's what we see. You see, they're they're bolder, Uh,
they're more careless. They really don't there's no thought to
their consequences. So they don't even think about consequences. And
I had to play video games or anything like that,
because I don't believe that video games are the reason,
but you have that kind of mentality. Things are getting
sensationalized on social media that these kids are seeing they

(44:16):
are playing these video games that promote violence and things
like that, and I think to some aspect, it desensitizes
them to it, right. They get a little numb to it,
and they think it's just this fun, right, and because
there's no consequence on a game, they take that coupled
with a breakdown in the family unit where you don't
have parents, either mother and father, or you may not

(44:40):
even either one of them in a picture. But if
you get down to that breakdown and just it's just
kind of that snowball effect. And you have these kids
that are out there with no they're not worried about
the consequences if they get caught. Other than the judicial system,
there may not be any consequences at home. You know,
never had to worry about what was going to happen

(45:01):
if I got in trouble when I was a teenager
with law enforcement my parents, I was worried about going home, right,
And I think we've seen a breakdown on that just
as a society to some extent. And it's just this
compounding effect of all these different things that are coming
together to make this perfect storm.

Speaker 6 (45:19):
But it's it's terrible, right, But so many.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
Of the murders that we're seeing lately, it's sixteen year
olds being arrested, Oh, fourteen, fifteen, thirteen, And I guess,
as a reporter who's been doing this long enough, it
shocks me that wait, fifteen years old. Oh my god,
I didn't even know what life was at fifteen. And
I guess, and there may not be an answer to this.

(45:42):
We just recorded a podcast about a seventeen year old
who keeps getting out. He's been on his third charge
of murder right now, right? But why? Why is the crime?
Why is the Why are the murder suspects getting younger
and younger and younger? And I get what you're saying
with the family aspect. Is there anything more that you

(46:03):
guys are seeing as law enforcement that is causing this?
And again, there may not be an answer to it.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
Well, you've heard me say this many of times. But
when I got to be sheriff, I was exposed to
a lot more than what I was exposed to in
Baker as chief of police. But I used a triangle
analogy and I thought about this. When I got to
be sheriff, I said, what's going on? Why is this?

(46:35):
Why is this happening? And I started really thinking about it.
I prayed about it, and I said, well, what's what
formed my character? For who I am? What formed it?
And I use that triangle analogy. The base of that
triangle was my home. One side was my church and
the other side was my school. And then I knew

(46:56):
I had to do the right thing for the right reasons,
and if I didn't, I had consequences to face. Sometimes
all in the whole triangle, but the circle of influence
that surrounded my triangle, the music I listened to, the
positive role models I had, you know, the people I
looked up to, that just what I wanted to be

(47:18):
as an adult. When I got to be an adult,
that influenced me. Coaches, teachers, whoever, maybe the next door neighbor.
But when you look at what's happening today, and that's
what we're talking about, that triangle is broken. At best. Yes,
the home is broken. It's usually a single mother, in

(47:39):
many cases a grandmother who's working two and three jobs
just to put the roof over the head and put
food on the table. She doesn't have the control she
needs or would like to have. They're not in school,
they're not in church, so they're not getting any of
those messages they might get it at home, but it's
going in one ear and out the other. Everything else,

(47:59):
I mean, it's been a total breakdown. But the music,
the circle of influence, the music they listen to, the
television and stuffy, the role models that they have, which
are all negative, you know, negative role models. They don't
have what we had or even use. Scott, you're a
lot younger than me, and I know you are, you
a baby, but but but I mean, you know, they're

(48:24):
not getting direction or or teaching them the right things
enough to set in because they listen to what the
people on the streets are telling them and they believe that.
And Scott and I could take you anywhere you want
to go in batteries. We go into some of the
worst areas and have some kill on the street and
ask him where are you going to be five years

(48:46):
from now? They won't hesitate. They said, I'm gonna be
dead or in prison, but I'm gonna get mine while
I can. And that's the mentality that's.

Speaker 5 (48:56):
Right, Scott's and they almost have this this mortar mentality right,
so that if they do go out there in the
streets and they do get killed while they're out committing there.
Whatever it is that they're doing or living this lifestyle,
then that's their way of being somebody right, of getting
that status, if you will. And it's hard. I can't

(49:19):
wrap my head around it. No, it makes no sense
to me. I didn't grow up in that lifestyle. I've
been exposed. I've been law enforcement almost twenty two years now,
sixteen working homicide and death.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
I've seen a lot of this.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
But it's still after all these years, baffles. It's it's
hard to understand that mindset and to see it getting
younger and younger.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
You know, But I think you got to the crux
of it, like, yeah, growing up, if mom and if
Mom looked at me with her eyes wide open, I
was like scared. But then there was the fear of
God through church that I have to do the right thing.
I have to do the right thing. Then there was
also the you're of respecting your teachers. I don't want
to disappoint them. I want to be a good student.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
So I had a couple of I had a couple
of coaches in high school baseball, football. They didn't spare
the rod with me. No, look, nobody did.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
Coaches play a vital role. In fact, look at Coach Edwards,
who is now our mayor. The whole reason he ran
for mayor is because he was almost a father figure
to a lot of the kids at his shi, which
is in North Baton Rouge, where a lot of the
crime ends up being. And again he's running into major
issues like a red tape and things he wanted to

(50:39):
get done. You're realizing in politics things don't happen that fast.
But let's switch gears one more time. I want to
talk about the revolving door. Do you feel the judicial
system is a revolving door because we see it as
reporters NonStop, y'all, as law enforcement are making the arrest.
You put them in jail, they go before a judge,
they get a bomb their back out. In fact, you

(51:01):
just had one a burglary suspect who got out for
committing a burglary ten thousand dollars bond a year ago,
three thousand dollars bond before that, another one. The bonds
are set so low he's got back out on the streets.
He didn't even leave your premise, and he burglarized facilities
around your jail.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
That's right, Uh, you're exactly right. What you just everything
you just said. Uh, and there's you know, it's it's
people wei should all when we vote for a candidate.
I don't care in what candidate it is, whether it's
a mayor or council person, the clerk of court, the

(51:43):
sheriff of whoever. People need to pay attention to who
they cast their votes for, not just say oh, he's
a good old guy, bye bye bye. You need to
really look into him. Because the judges are no different.
And we got judges up there and that that I
think start off with the scale of justice even and

(52:05):
as they progress through the deal they learn more and
more which way that goes. But in trying a case
or whatever, or hearing hearing them but there's no reason,
I mean, it just defires all logic to me, where
you've had somebody that's committed a murder and you're going
to let them out on fifty one hundred thousand dollars

(52:29):
bond and an ankle bracelet. Some of them create commit
some crimes that they only get his the ankle bracelet,
and you know, and it's not all the judges just
you know, it's but you got to take a close
look at who who you're electing. Don't just say oh yeah,

(52:49):
he knows him, or you got to take a close
look at who you're electing, because those people are pretty
much there for once they get elected, they there for life.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
You know, you are revolving door them.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Oh yeah, we see it. We see it all the time.
And it's very frustrating. I mean, you know, it's boundaries.
Like you said, mentioned it. They they they've said it,
and we'll say it. It is very frustrating when you
have repeat offenders who have done the same thing, arm robbery, whatever, uh,
tempt to murder, murder, and then they just get Yeah

(53:23):
they're back on the street, and you know, they got
their day in court, but that doesn't mean they have
to be back on a street in the meantime, you know.
And I know judges, I mean they've got and they've
got much more now that they can look at to
see what a person's past has been. You know, has
this person been arrested on these charges before? Uh, to

(53:45):
look at the background, especially at sentencing if they if
they find them guilty. But I don't know, it's very frustrating.
It's very it's frustrating to everybody. And this isn't something
that's just germane to It's happening all over the state,
It's happened all over the country, and uh, I don't know.

(54:07):
It just makes our job a whole lot harder to do. Uh.
And then people lose faith in the system, you know,
the citizens, They lose faith in the system. So you know,
I want to I want those skills to be even
and and it's up to me to prove that this
person did or did this, you know, it's up to

(54:29):
us to do that, and then the judge has to decide.
But sometimes we got everything textbook case, everything, and their
next thing, we know even before they I mean now
already back on the street.

Speaker 5 (54:45):
And it's it gets disheartening as an investigator, you know,
the person that's that's going out and constantly working these
cases to see these same individuals over and over, you know.
And what we try and and make sure we push
to our guys and our people is to make sure
that we're doing we can control right. We can only
control certain things, and that's putting our best case forward,
putting our best evidence together, doing the best job that

(55:06):
we can, building a solid of the case that we
can put together to give to the district Attorney's office
for them to do their part and hopefully they're going
to do their best and that that gets passed on
to the judges too.

Speaker 4 (55:21):
You know, you and your men and women, when you
sit there and you realizing, Okay, this is our suspect,
and you sit there and recognize that name, is that
not one of those of Are we even sitting here
doing our job?

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (55:35):
Absolutely, we just so. Just recent in the last couple
of months, we arrested an individual for a murder over
off of South Harroll's Ferry. We arrested five or six
individuals on that case, and one of the suspects that
we arrested was on an ankle monitor from a previous
shooting arrest that we that the same detective that just
it just happenstance was the lead detective on the Harroll's

(55:57):
Ferry murder, was the lead detective on the previous nine
fatal shooting, you know, and we had to have those conversations.
It's it's really you kind of look at your in
the mirror and go, why are.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
We doing this?

Speaker 5 (56:08):
And it's it's about more than those two individuals. It's
it goes back to why any of us chose this
profession and while we're here and it's serving the victims, right,
you know, and we we know that the judicial system
is something we have to battle. So if we prepare
for it on the front end and again put our
best case together, build as much evidence as we can,

(56:31):
do everything that we can do to strengthen our investigation,
then hopefully it makes that push a little easier.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
And you mentioned the DA's office, Hiller. We have a
great working relationship. Our people have great ship working relationships
with him, and he goes after these individuals. He aggressively,
He aggressively pursues them. But you know, we we can't
change judges.

Speaker 4 (57:00):
And let me make that very clear to our listeners.
This is not the district attorney is not doing his job.
Judges work independently. They we have a whole conversation about this.
There's really no one guiding a judge. A judge is
all the way at the top, so it's hard to
tell a judge what they can and cannot do. Last

(57:21):
thing I really want to touch on, Sheriff is you've
been doing this for a very long time. You've been
in law enforcement your entire life. New Orleans is starting
to see a big decrease when it comes to crime.
Is it because of Troup Nola? Is it? And maybe
you know more than we do inside stuff. But things
that they are doing, something's obviously working. They needed to

(57:44):
get a handle on things. It was starting to take
a toll on tourism. It was starting to take a
toll on even people who lived there didn't want to
go out. It's worked. Whatever they did worked. Is there
the consideration of, hey, maybe what they did we need
bring into our area.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
Yeah, well certainly that's the case. Uh. When I look
at what happened down there, what I know, the things
that took place behind the scenes with law enforcement and
uh the rest of them. I think Troop NOLA did help. Uh.
It gave them a contingency of of of of officers

(58:23):
that they didn't have before. Uh. It allowed them to
direct some of their people that would normally be out
on patrol inter specialized divisions and to address these things.
But I think public outcry did a lot to change
things down there, especially after that tragedy they had at

(58:44):
the UH at the on Bourbon Street this past football season. Yeah,
New Year's Day. Uh. I think that changed some attitudes
with people. UH and certainly they did some right things.
But another thing I would say too is you've had
a influx of people move out of New Orleans move

(59:05):
on the north Shore in that area. So uh their
population uh is you know, still high, but it's not
near as high as it used to be. And I
think a lot of that was some exodus of people
living leaving New Orleans for what you know, for everything
that was going on that they didn't you know, they

(59:25):
felt that they were in danger of staying there. I
think there, I know there there car jackings. Those numbers
went down, and I think it's due to the efforts
of the enforcement was down there to help, you know,
help address those issues.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
But I don't know have you had convert I know
our mayor has said that he had wanted to talk
to the governor as far as doing something similar to
Troup Nola here in bant Roache because it had the
Mayor's never hidden crime is a problem in b Roach Again,
that's Broo, you're the entire parish. But have you had
any conversations with the governor or plan to about maybe

(01:00:06):
doing something along those lines here.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Well, he's we've met with the governor and his people.
We met with the state police and their people, and
there they got a thing right now here, the initiative
going on in bat and Rude to try to address
some of these things. Uh. And I don't know what
they're gonna call it Troop B or what, but uh
but uh but yeah, and they're starting to make some

(01:00:28):
strides in that area. So I'm encouraged by that. You know,
we all need help. We all need help. Unfortunately, like
I say, we've got a robust h We get one
hundred and fifty applicants a month now that come want
to come to be a workforce. But unfortunately, some of
a lot of those applicants they don't realize that if

(01:00:52):
I'm a convicted fella, I can't serve in law enforcement,
you know. And I mean, it's it's wild. I could
sit here and talk about that for fifteen and twenty minutes,
some of the applicants we've got, but it's uh, well,
we are getting some good people. We are getting some
good people. And uh we've been on the average of
a hiring Uh we all have what we call a
hiring and promotion event that I don't know if you've

(01:01:17):
ever been, but you you're invited to come to any
of them you want to, and then we we only
we recognize people who are going above and beyond. We
give them challenge coins, we recognize the deputies of the month.
We do our like I said, our promotions at that time,
as well as welcome in and swear in all of
our new officers. But you know, there's there's some people

(01:01:38):
out there that want to get in it for the
same reason he and me and Scott did you know?
And that's a serve and that's that's it. If you're
going to be in law enforcement, that's it. It's just
to serve. Like I said, If you don't have that
serving heart and that serving mentality, go do something else
because you're not gonna be happy in this profession because
it's it's just about helping people and that's it. But yeah,

(01:02:00):
I think you're going to see more things happened between
local especially here in East Spentry's Paris with us and
on the state level as well.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
And I lied, is there anything else you want to
add When it comes to the jail in the juvenile
detention center, we've heard the horror stories.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Both of them need to be torn down. The Spish
Paris jail. It's the old part of that jail houses
about half of our population. It's the same jail I
worked in when I started here in nineteen seventy six.
It's the same place. The newer part of the jail

(01:02:40):
was built in the eighties. But it's it too. It's
falling apart. I mean, lack of maintenance over the years
and so forth and so on has really taken a
toll on a place. I've been advocating for a new
facility since I've been sheriff. I'm not trying to see
how anymore people. We're not wish we didn't have anybody,

(01:03:01):
but the real world is we got criminals and they
got to go to jail. But we I don't like
it because I don't think it's conducive for the safety
of the people. We're entrusted with their safety. That's the
that's the h uh the jail populace. I don't think
it's and it's certainly not conducive for my people. I

(01:03:26):
like I said, I started off their work the year
and then they put me on the road.

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
But but is the horizon with funding though well for it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
The mayor, he's totally for both both facilities because the
juvenile facility was built in the early seventies, right after
they built the prison that was built in the seventies.
Sometimes but it's dilapidated too, and it's it's just I
mean it. I want you to come to it whenever
you want to get the war, and should take you

(01:03:58):
through the whole place and you'll see what I'm talking out.
And that's what I did with Coach when uh, you know,
I told him, I said, when he when he ran,
he came and met with me and Hill and we
just had frank discussions and we said whatever we wanted
to say, and he did too. He listened a lot
to what we were saying. But the week after he

(01:04:20):
got in office, it was a second week, I think,
I called him. I said, Coach, you need to come
on up here, and he said, I'll be there in
the morning, eight o'clock. He showed up. We told toured
the facility about three hours. I brought him went back
up to the front. I said, what do you think?
He said, this place needs to be torn down.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
But how much will it cost to do?

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
It's gonna cost a lot. And he's there exploring all
the different avenues, whether whether it's a bond, I personally
don't think we need we need to. We need to
look more at the public private financing of it. I
think I think that would be better. And you know,

(01:05:02):
look at look at what happened to Hiller. Hiller has
an excellent house.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
Will not pass.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
It's not gonna pass.

Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
There's no way. Taxes, even if it's for teachers or whatever.
People are done being taxed, So that will not.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
That's right, but it's it's really and my warden, Kathy Fountain,
though she's one of the best in the business, but
oh god, she's got she's got the toughest job of
all of us. I mean, running that prison. It's just
it's hard. I you know, like I say, I went
there when it was still what a ten year old facility,

(01:05:35):
still in good shape. But it's the same thing I
worked in. Same pipes on the wall, same cage cages
for the deputies in the central control, same everything, same
cell box, everything. And uh, it's just we got to
do something, and I'm worried about it. People, some people
on the council accused me of trying to fear monger,

(01:05:59):
but I'm I don't know how in the world. The
FEDS have not come in there and set it and
stepped in and put us under consent decree shut it down.
And and that's if that's the case, you're gonna spend
a lot more money than you would if you do
it yourself and get it done. Because they come in
they tell you who's gonna build it, what they gonna
build it with. Uh, you know how they you know

(01:06:20):
what you're gonna have, and how you're gonna run it
and everything else. So you lose total control over all
of those things. And it costs out. And I've looked
at the ones that those who happened to it costs
you sometimes twice as much to build and operate as
if you do it yourself and going and do what
you need you know what needs to be done. So

(01:06:41):
I'm praying that that will happen. Uh, it needs to.
That's that's one of the reasons I'm running again. Uh.
We got a little over two years left in this
in this term, and uh, but I'm not finished. You know,
I got more things I want to get done. Uh
but uh I know when the time's right, Good Lord
to tell me that. But you know, I thank God

(01:07:02):
for putting me here. I know he put me here
to do what I'm doing, not a doubt in my mind.
And I don't think he's finished with me yet. And
I hope the people are What term are you on
now stairs? This is my fifth term? Yeah, but I
did seven terms in Baker as uh as chief of
police and then and now this is my fifth term

(01:07:22):
I'm serving right now. So but you know, of course
I got people like him. You need to ruin. You
got to run a good I guess you're always gonna
have employees that's gonna say you go always run again.
I needed but as long as as long as we're
getting things done and I got people like Scott and
everybody's working with us, you know, it's rewarding to me

(01:07:46):
because I know that I got the best of the
best we can get with these guys and girls. And uh,
you know, I thought you won't put in an application
at one point.

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):
But I consider it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
Share.

Speaker 4 (01:08:03):
Yeah, is there anything else either one of you guys
would like to add that we did not touch on Scott?

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:08:08):
No, We're just going to, you know, keep doing what
we do, which is coming to work every day and
doing we have to do to serve the citizens that
we're here to protect. We're going to keep doing our
best on our investigations, trying to do we can, to
work with our gang unit and help try and keep
bringing these numbers down, you know, and just coming to

(01:08:32):
work every day and putting our best foot forward and
doing we have to do to serve our citizens.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
That's right. I don't know if I mentioned it to
you real quick, but we've got actually thirty three deputies
right now that are assigned to that unit, not counting
a number of people y'all have in VCU, but just
the Gang Enforcement and Intelligence unit, with the narcotics and
the scats, Street come unit and the intelligence unit. We've

(01:08:58):
got thirty three deputies that this all the do is.
They work that full time. Uh. And we meet with
Sharp there too. You know, I'd like to get three
or four more, not him. I got to keep him
where he is. Well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
We appreciate both of you guys coming on. This was
very telling of a lot of the inside. So often
it's a quick interview one minute, two minutes and the
story is only a minute and a half. Here we
get a full more than an hour conversation, and we're
really able to dive in deep. So we appreciate you
taking the time out.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Of well, I appreciate you having me. You know, I'm
trying to come home several times.

Speaker 4 (01:09:33):
Oh don't you start with me, and he's canceled on
me twice. Yep, you went there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
I wasn't going to cancel as I can promise you
to well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
To our listeners, as always, we thank you for listening
and we will see you on the next episode of
Luisiana Unfiltered d