St.Landry Parish, LA- Governor Jeff Landry issued an Executive Order early Friday morning declaring a State of Emergency due to a state-wide officer shortage.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide and here in St.Landry Parish are feeling the effects of an officer shortage. Bobby Guidroz, the Sheriff for the Parish, says recruiting deputies is a constant battle.
"We have a definite shortage, and we appreciate what the Governor is doing," said Sheriff Guidroz.
He says his office is about 10 or 12 deputies short, and that's just in the patrol division, and that's not counting corrections; the shortage is across the board.
"People are just not applying, and I reject those that are, for various reasons," said Guidroz.
Those reasons include a faulty background check, a bad employment history, or people not interested in joining law enforcement.
"It is hard to recruit in the law enforcement business today," said Guidroz.
Governor Jeff Landry is taking action by issuing a State of Emergency, citing several statistics, one being that 78% of national law enforcement agencies reported not being able to find qualified candidates while 65% reported having too few candidates applying.
"We got people that are breaking into homes and cars; we need police officers to keep crime down," said former police officer Alvin Charles.
Now retired from the force, he says crime is only getting worse.
"We need more people to apply. When I was a police officer, I helped many people, and all police officers are not bad; you got the ones concerned about the public," said Charles.
Guidroz says recruitment has been one of his top priorities, hosting job workshops and giving incentives, but he says law enforcement has a long way to go.
"We cover 960 square miles of Parish roads, and my focus is to get back on Parish Roads where people report thieves, speeders, and illegal drug use. Right now, a shift may have 8-9 deputies if we are lucky per shift. I am trying to get 12-15 per shift.
The Opelousas Police Department also expressed they have a shortage. In Monday's Community Conversations with Chief Graig Leblanc, Officer Dwight Brown said the ratio of police to people is 421 to one, with a population of 16,000. Chief Leblanc also stated that 38 patrol officers on the force respond to calls. To get a full working police force, the Chief says they would need about 20 more officers to join, which would round it out to 50 officers.
Governor Jeff Landry says the Executive Order issuing the State of Emergency will last until March 15th unless terminated further.
To read Governor Jeff Landry's State of Emergency, click here.
