By james art BATON ROUGE — A report prepared for a coalition of 450 individuals, businesses and nonprofit groups suggested Wednesday that the region could see improved public safety programs if it merged the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office with the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Safe BR hired 21CP Solutions to prepare the document, which also touted the potential for cost savings, increased accountability and greater trust. You can see the entire study here.
The group said it hopes to reduce the number of homicides in Baton Rouge by 50 percent over the next 10 years. It notes that Baton Rouge has had more than 30 murders per 100,000 residents in the past seven years, and that only four major cities have consistently had such a high rate: Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans and St. Louis.
The report’s authors also decried the cost of increased homicides: $301 million in direct costs to state and local governments, $12 million in direct costs to hospitals and insurers, and $965 million in lost productivity.
The study group was asked to assess whether merging the sheriff’s office and BRPD would reduce serious crime, decrease response times, increase officer pay, attract more officers, strengthen community ties and solve more crimes. It says the merger is feasible and that if the city-parish spends $325 per resident (the national average) on law enforcement, the city-parish could save $50 million a year.
The study also noted that all open positions in Baton Rouge’s law enforcement community are at the patrol level, indicating the agencies are “top heavy.”
Under the eventual merger plan, the sheriff’s office would take over BRPD’s operations and the city’s police department would be eliminated. The study’s authors said their work was not an evaluation of either agency, just a look at how they deliver services.
Former BRPD Chief and EBRSO Sheriff Greg Phares says merging the departments is not a good idea.
“There may be some savings at the top end of the administration. I don’t think there will be many. I think there are many disadvantages. Departments operate on completely different employment and retirement systems. You’re giving all the power of parish law enforcement to one man, and that should shut people up,” he said.
Baton Rouge Police Union spokesman Bill Profita says he hasn’t seen the proposal, but distaste for the idea of consolidation is well established.
“The sheriff doesn’t want it, and the police union is on the record against it,” he said.