the repeaters over at gannett/the town talk report that city of alexandria, louisiana mayor, jacques roy, has named baton rouge police captain, ernest r. “roger” tully, as the new apd chief. he will replace daren coutee who retired earlier this year.
apparently, the mayor and his lil chief selection committee didnt bother to talk to any of the michigan or new mexico state police who are familiar with the baton rouge police methods.
in september 2005 in the wake of hurricane katrina, michigan and new mexico state police were sent to baton rouge to help -- or so they thought.
instead, they learned that the baton rouge police department is so lousy that they had to pull their cops out after just two days "of helping local police deal with hurricane evacuees."New Mexico state police Maj. Daniel Lopez wrote to the police department in September 2005, laying out the concerns of seven New Mexico troopers and five from Michigan. They included racially motivated enforcement; physically abusing prisoners and the public; and stopping, questioning and searching people without any legal justification.
gannett reports that captain tully:
[...]
Michigan State Police spokeswoman Melody Kindraka said their troopers work in large and diverse urban environments and didn't see the problems officers in Baton Rouge were facing as all that unusual.
She said troopers are expected to be firm but courteous while enforcing laws and keeping civil order.
"They are expected to treat every person with dignity and respect," she said. "Michigan State Police troopers observed Baton Rouge police officers engage in actions that were an affront to their sense of dignity and respect." ~ source times-picayune[W]orked hand-in-hand with Baton Rouge Chief Jeff LeDuff and commanded more than 400 officers in Baton Rouge’s Uniform Patrol Division, said he was excited to be in Alexandria and would bring law enforcement experience and knowledge to his new job.
why in the world would you hire someone from a culture like that to run the alexandria police department?
no one from louisiana should have even been considered. as far as the city hiring someone from out of this baton rouge mess, well they would have accomplished about as much by promoting from within.
fail
