Federal civil rights officials have closed their investigation of the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office, having found that the EPSO has corrected the problems first found almost 10 years ago.
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice completed an investigation into the EPSO's practices in 2016. In June 2018, the parties announced they had reached an agreement with the EPSO to end alleged violations of the U.S. Constitution.
At issue were the findings of the 2016 investigation, including the use of something called "investigative holds," which the DOJ said were violations of the Fourth Amendment, and were being used to try to force those citizens to cooperate with investigations. You can read about it here and here.
Under the agreement, the sheriff's office agreed to develop policies and provide training to make sure the holds didn't continue. They also had to increase transparency by collecting and reporting data on related activites.
The Department’s investigation into EPSO and VPPD began in April 2015 and concluded with the December 2016 report. The Department determined through interviews with command staff, detectives, officers, and a cross-section of community members, as well as review of documents including jail logs, arrest records, and more, that the investigative hold practice was routine at EPSO and VPPD.
According to the letter provided by the sheriff today, which you can read for yourself by scrolling down, the DOJ feels that the EPSO has made much progress and officials now feel the sheriff's office will continue to follow the law.
"The DOJ conducted five compliance assessments during the past six years. Based on those assessments, they determined that EPSO has achieved substantial compliance with the requirements of the Agreement. EPSO has implemented significant reforms that have enhanced policing and addressed the Fourth Amendment violations identified by DOJ," a release from the sheriff states.
"The Command Staff at EPSO, under the command of Sheriff Charles R. Guillory, worked tireless and put in place numerous new policies to help meet the requirements set forth by DOJ. The changes that were put in place were adapted by EPSO employees without any issues, making these transitions run smoothly. EPSO made copies of hundreds of files to give to DOJ for review and also gave them access to all files and videos," the release continues.
The letter was sent last week to Guillory.
"Sheriff Charles R. Guillory would like to thank his Staff and Deputies for their dedication and devotion to helping the EPSO meet the requirements given by DOJ with Substantial compliance in all categories," the release states.
Here's the letter from the DOJ:
