By james art This was a really good idea by the organizers behind the city of Saint George. But if the powers that be in Baton Rouge get their way, St. George will have to change on the fly, and they’ll probably need a little bigger government than they hoped for.
The plan was for St. George to hire someone to serve as “Chief of Police.” as all incorporated cities in Louisiana are required by law to hire someone for this job, but simply contract with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement. This results in zero changes to the user experience of citizens; the area that is now Saint George was previously unregistered and as such has always been under the main enforcement jurisdiction of the EBRSO. St. George organizers simply planned to throw a little more money at the sheriff’s office in exchange for some extra officers on patrol.
But a group called the SafeBR coalition, whose website contains many nice people but also all of the same in-crowd types under whose stewardship Baton Rouge plunged into accelerated decline that made St. George a desirable corporation in the first place, plans for dragging the EBRSO into the same filth that the Baton Rouge Police Department has sunk into. SafeBR wants to bring the two together.
The SafeBR Coalition asked experts to explore ways to improve public safety in Baton Rouge. They proposed changes in law enforcement. These include improving pay, filling patrol positions and using resources more efficiently.
The study found that Baton Rouge’s police force has too much internal leadership compared to patrol officers.
The study also found that if the city spent on law enforcement like the national average, it could save more than $50 million. That money could pay officers better, hire more patrol officers and invest in useful technology.
The study found that cities save about 20 percent by merging their police forces. Baton Rouge could save money and better serve the community by following his lead.
The study says using best practices from both the Baton Rouge Police Department and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office can improve accountability, community relations and teamwork.
According to the study, cities like Charlotte and Jacksonville that have gone through the process say a careful, step-by-step approach is critical to success.
You can see with absolute clarity how this will happen.
BRPD has been incorporated into EBRSO and now a Mayor-President – there is an election for that position and it’s possible that Sid Edwards could pull off an upset, but the chalk will say you’ll have a left-wing Democrat Mayor-President who likes criminals more than people who obey the law – it will be entirely up to the sheriff.
EBRSO does not currently patrol the City of Baton Rouge. It governs the parts of East Baton Rouge Parish that are outside the city limits itself.
And most people will tell you that the sheriff’s office is much better at preventing and solving crimes than the BRPD. Sheriff’s officers are also more polite and professional. There is certainly much better morale in the EBRSO.
And East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreau is widely recognized as a solid, competent leader of his department. No one thinks BRPD leadership is great.
That’s all well and good, but remember, the sheriff’s office does law enforcement mostly in parts of the city where there aren’t many gang-ridden, high-crime areas. Gardere, which remains unincorporated because St. George’s final incorporation map does not include it, is really the only truly bad neighborhood under EBRSO’s jurisdiction.
Merge EBRSO and BRPD and now the sheriff’s office has it all.
And the next Alton Sterling case that comes up, even if it’s not as deadly as the Sterling case, will be on EBRSO.
The same people — like state Rep. Denise Marcel, who is a member of SafeBR — who tried to destroy the BRPD in the Sterling case are now going after the sheriff’s department. And they’ll note that Sid Gautreau is a white Republican, which means they’ll play the race card. EBRSO will now be a racist organization reeking of police brutality and will have to be “reformed”. Maybe there’s a case before Judge Obama in federal court in the Middle District of Louisiana—Shelley Dick, say—and now you’re looking at a consent decree being shoved down EBRSO’s throat, demanding the same kind of embrace—the thug police that turned New Orleans into shooting range.
Or if these things don’t actually happen, there will be threats and demands that they happen. Because that’s how the race card is played to make police departments dysfunctional.
It won’t be about race. Generally not. It’s about power. The Denise Marcels of the world want power more than anything else, and if the sheriff’s department is going to patrol the black neighborhoods in Baton Rouge under this new plan, then it will matter who has power over the sheriff’s department.
And in about four years you’ll have someone Denise Marcel likes running against Gautreau, probably with the support of one of those Soros-linked pro-crime PACs or NGOs at a level where no locally funded candidate, not even one that is sitting president, may coincide.
And so the left will take over the sheriff’s office.
Sure, you might save money to merge these two police forces, but what you’re creating is an organization that’s super attractive to the tainted Soros as he seeks funds for a “fundamental transformation” of America. EBRSO may absorb BRPD, but it will become BRPD – or worse.
You can see this happening with crystal clarity. This is almost inevitable.
And when it does, the only way St. George can get competent, effective law enforcement is if it takes on the task itself.
The good news is that current projections show that St. George has a very large surplus based on current tax rates and economic activity. The new city will be able to afford a large police force.
But it will need one.
Maybe the folks at SafeBR mean well. But what they will produce with their grand plan will be catastrophic.
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