DOWNTOWN LAFAYETTE, L.a. — UPDATE: The DOJ has postponed tonight's town hall due to inclement weather. At last check, a new date for the meeting is TBA.
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The Department of Justice is hosting a town hall at 7 pm Tuesday night as it opens a civil "pattern or practice" investigation into the Louisiana State Police.
It will be held in Downtown Lafayette at the convention center on 124 S. Buchanan St.
According to The Justice Department, in layman's terms, a pattern or practice investigation looks into whether certain actions are a pattern of behaviors that happen to be seen across the board, or whether they are taught as actual training practices. DOJ officials say this particular investigation will determine whether LSP uses excessive force and whether troopers engage in racially discriminatory policing.
The DOJ plans to conduct a series of checks and balances — reviewing LSP policies, training, supervision, and force investigations while troopers are on the job. The department will also look over LSP's systems of accountability after the fact, such as how troopers handle complaints of misconduct and discipline troopers.
The department notes, however, this investigation is separate from any federal criminal investigation of state police and its troopers.
I reached out to state police for comment ahead of the town hall and received a written statement from LSP Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis. It reads, in full, as follows:
“Since accepting the position of Louisiana State Police Superintendent, I have vowed to regain the trust of our citizens, our law enforcement partners, our political leaders, and the men and women of our agency. The Department of Public Safety is comprised of over 1,000 dedicated men and women within our commissioned ranks. Each of them display selfless service, courage, and integrity on a daily basis. Our personnel truly make a difference in our communities and I am grateful for the sacrifices they make on behalf of public safety. That does not change the fact that we have had some employees violate the trust of our citizens and of their colleagues. When that occurs, it is incumbent upon our agency to uphold our public safety oath and make the changes necessary to ensure that this does not ever happen again.
As the Federal Civil Rights investigation is underway, our agency will continue to offer our full cooperation as we have done with all investigations over the last several years. No one is more committed to implementing positive change within our agency than our own personnel who work tirelessly each day to provide professional public safety services to the state of Louisiana. As our agency moves forward, we have taken great strides in amending policies such as banning chokeholds, banning the use of impact weapons to the head and neck, instituting a duty to intervene policy, and defining accountability for supervisors to review, track, and report excessive force incidents. Implicit bias training is already in effect and de-escalation/duty to intervene training will begin this year. These improvements and reforms affect every aspect of our department and are only possible through the dedicated efforts of our Troopers, DPS Police Officers, and support staff. These steps are vital to ensuring that we provide the best services and constitutional policing possible to the communities we serve. We remain committed to the reform process through continued coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice and community stakeholders. Through this coordination, we will continue to implement critical changes within Louisiana State Police and build trust within our communities.”
The DOJ invites all who are interested in sharing their experiences with Louisiana State Police and its troopers to attend the town hall.
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