Dear Governor Edwards:
After speaking with several police officers, I am now aware of a huge contributing factor to the massive increase in crime, traffic accidents, and vagrancy in not only the Baton Rouge area but the surrounding cities as well. Baton Rouge’s current downward spiral is based on a decision that has shifted us into the wrong direction; it’s based on a philosophy with implications that can be observed in gradual excess with each passing day. I have been told—and this has been made abundantly clear to me from several sources—that the Governor of Louisiana has specifically requested the Chief of Police to decrease police presence, to leave the homeless alone, and to massively limit police patrols.
As a result, we’re seeing how a populous begins to act when they realize their interstate and highway systems are no longer being patrolled, how a city can deteriorate from the inside out by an unchecked and growing population of homeless, and how homicides and property crime will proliferate when there is an absolute lack of focused deterrence and hotspot policing.
A recent report shows that highway deaths in Baton Rouge have been increasing since 2016. I have a 16-mile commute to work and it is a rare event that I don’t see some collision pulled off to the side of the road. It’s an unavoidable and objective reality that people have little to no concern for their fellow motorists: Texting while driving, eating while driving, distracted driving, impatient driving, impaired driving. These all go unchecked from a complete lack of police presence on the roads. Yet, we still have the signs up on the interstate “Speed Limit Strictly Enforced.”
I can’t remember the last time I saw someone pulled over for creating an unsafe speed differential.
And while driving through Baton Rouge you’ll probably notice the changing scenery over the recent years. It’s hard not to notice the graffiti cropping up all around town. No longer is graffiti relegated to the sides of transformer boxes and abandoned buildings. Now anyone passing through the city can enjoy the motley handiwork of vagrants and urchins on street signs, underpasses, gates, sidewalks, parking lot walls, buildings currently up for sale, etc. etc.
It’s difficult to bring in conventions and conferences to a city so overrun with congested traffic, graffiti covered downtown areas, and vagrants on every corner scaring people.
Speaking of vagrants, again I’ve been told that the rising crowd of homeless should be left alone by the police. Before, the police would scoop them up and escort them to the outskirts of town. Not anymore. I’ve been told that the police have been instructed to put the homeless on their pay-no-mind list. The result: an overrun downtown Baton Rouge where people are getting mugged while they try to get coffee. Just ride by the downtown area Greyhound station to see how the businesses in that area have been destroyed with trash, spray paint, and crime. Windows have been knocked out with rocks, boarded up windows have been torn down, and litter lines the surrounding areas like the worst kind of aftermath from any Mardi Gras parade.
How can a city thrive like this?
Homicides have been increasing since 2016, property crimes have been increasing, and everyone I know has a genuine concern for their safety whether they want to go for a jog around the LSU lakes or simply going to the store to pick up a few items.
But, again, I’ve been told by several police officers that they’ve been instructed to lighten their presence within the areas. After the recent controversies concerning police officers in video-taped confrontations with criminals, the current political regime wants the police force to tone down their presence and to soften their image.
So, what we have now is a city of commuters driving like savages because they know they can get away with anything. We have a city being demolished from the inside out by unchecked vagrants. We have a huge increase in murder, crime, property damage, and an entire city of people that have lost their trust in the politicians, lost their faith in their police force, and are looking for ways to get out and find a better place to live and do business.
In closing, I urge you to change your stance on how the police should be handling their duties and I urge you to take a closer look at how the homeless are destroying not only the areas they inhabit but how they adversely affect the people that live and work there as well.
I urge you to not only allow but encourage the police to work on focused deterrence in dealing with the high homicide rate. Support and implement the BRAVE program which has shown to decrease city crime by twenty-five percent. Ramp up and encourage hotspot policing which involves deploying police where crime is consistently present at high rates. Sustain the police presence in these areas and maintain focus until criminal activity is minimal. I suggest to divert funding to BREC and senior activity programs—which currently are both running with a fifty million dollar surplus—and fund better technology and resources to the police department.
Thank you for your time in reading this. With the help of extraordinary partners like
you and with the determination and fortitude that states have shown, I believe
that we can give our citizens and returning citizens their best chance to lead
lives of meaning and purpose. Thank you
for your commitment and collaboration on this important issue.
Thank you for your time in reading this. With the help of extraordinary partners like
you and with the determination and fortitude that states have shown, I believe
that we can give our citizens and returning citizens their best chance to lead
lives of meaning and purpose. Thank you
for your commitment and collaboration on this important issue.
