Sid Edwards announces a plan for Baton Rouge to rewrite retired police officers in support – Advocate

A new pilot program will return retired officers to the Baton Rouge police station, hoping to strengthen short -hand maintenance staff, said Mayor of East Baton Ruzh Sid Edwards on Tuesday.

The plan is one of several ideas that the mayor stated that he and his staff are being implemented to fight crime in Baton Rouge – which has noted an increased percentage of killings in recent years, even when other cities have seen a decline.

“We have a problem. We have a problem here in our big parish,” Edwards said. “And one of the things we got into and talked about is to do everything we need to do in different ways to help with these crime problems.”

Declared at a press conference on Tuesday morning, the initiative was possible by Jeff Landry, signed the legislation last year, allowed the employees to be appointed without punishment for their retirement benefits.

BRPD chief Thomas Morse Jr. said these educated officers will work part-time, limited to 29 hours a week and will not respond to calls or be on a patrol but serve in support capacity, as well as mentors more Young officers.

“They will be able to help us in many ways that our workforce is lacking in maintenance services,” Morse said. “Some cold cases and in our real -time crime center, just lithaf from places in the department. This will do many things for us.”

In order to finance the pilot program, $ 3 million in non-current funds was allocated from the BRPD budget, said Mason Bats, CEO of the mayor of the President.

Last week, the mayor has put on moving money at the moment dedicated to the Baton Rouge library system to finance the promotions for BRPD employees. This proposal will need approval from the East Baton Metro Council in March and voters in October.

Crimestrokes raise money for awards

The mayor’s employees have also announced an increase in the money of the remuneration paid by the melons of Capital Region Crime for information on the killings, doubled them in the first 48 hours after the murder, said CEO Johnny Dunham.

For single killings, the $ 2,500 cap for remuneration will now be $ 5,000 for information received in the first two days after the crime, while the $ 5,000 cap for multiple killings has already been set at $ 10,000.

Jeff Leduf, Assistant Administrative Director of Edwards and former BRPD chief, said the two initiatives are both products of the efforts of the mayor’s transition team to find new ways to deal with public safety.

“I have seen everything that can die, die in this community in my career as a police officer,” Ledf said. “It’s time to stop … That’s why these initiatives will be proposed.”