Louisiana

Louisiana State Police leader says troopers should be ‘guardians,’ not ‘warriors’

Published

5 months ago

January 4, 2024

Louisiana State Police leader says troopers should be ‘guardians,’ not ‘warriors’

In a recent conversation, Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis spoke with columnist Will Sutton about his decision to become a state trooper, his challenging tenure as State Police superintendent and his policing philosophy.

Davis became superintendent in October, 2020, after he was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards. He is scheduled to leave the job Monday.

The interview has been edited for clarity and space.

Sutton: Colonel, as you look back, way back, like Southern University, undergraduate days, did you imagine being in charge of the Louisiana State Police?

Davis: No, sir, not for a second. In fact, it wasn’t even my plan or thought, as I wasn’t going to college to work for this agency. I had a plan then to work for the federal government, maybe the FBI or U.S. Marshals. Of course, God didn’t see it that way.

Sutton: What kinds of things did you learn as a young State Police officer that you hadn’t learned, maybe during your years in active duty in the Army?

Davis: We come into people’s lives at sometimes the worst possible time. As they’re going through traumatic events and situations, they are stepping up. That taught me resilience. I thought that was vitally important. It taught me about people.

State troopers will lay down their life for you without knowing you. You can’t measure that. You can’t teach that. Someone either decides to do it or not do it. That lesson about life, that lesson about giving to others, about sacrificing for others, is something that has fueled a fire in me.

Sutton: With all of your experience, and specifically tech experience, when it comes to body-worn cameras, where do you draw the line? With the need for thorough investigations and a desire for the release of video footage that helps tell the story, how do you balance that?

Davis: While there is a desire for our citizens to get the story and get it quickly, I think it is important to get it accurately.

We have to understand that our mission is to keep our communities safe and to serve our public. When we are conducting an investigation so that we can solve crime, so that we can take information and deter or remove those that are committing crimes, then that’s the balance. I think that balance is already established.

To just push out information without having a thorough understanding, without also being able to also thoroughly investigate, that inhibits our ability to solve crimes. While it gets the story out, it doesn’t tell the true story. The camera footage being released does not tell us the entire story. It may not tell the why. It may not tell who’s all involved. We have to remember our mission and think about humanity. Would you want that done to you?

Sutton: So that takes me to one of the most significant, one of the most tumultuous times before you came on. That was after Ronald Greene died in State Police custody in May 2019 following a high-speed chase; body camera video showed troopers beating, choking, shackling Greene before he died.

At least in part, that situation ended up providing you with this opportunity. That’s a heck of a thing to walk into. It’s one thing to rise through the ranks and have the opportunity. But to take it at a time like that. Why would you do that?

Davis: I can tell you, I did not know how big this thing was. My heart goes out to Ms. (Mona) Hardin (Greene’s mother). My heart goes out to the Greene family. Those were some of the most difficult times. To look at Ms. Harden in her eyes and see the pain with the loss of her son — for me, that was a time that challenged me, in my soul, to be honest with her.

I did not have any background about what had occurred, right. I was trying to navigate something, and I did not have a foundation. So I was trying to learn as I go.

While I would love to go back and change what initially occurred and brought us to that point, I could not. But again, my hope to this day is that we can be at some point a shining a light in people’s lives.

Sutton: I lived in northern Louisiana when I moved back to my home state in 2012. I’ve actually traveled the roads that Greene took, and I know the exit from the interstate. So I’m familiar with the State Police reputation there. Do you think that things have improved with the reputation of Troop F?

Davis: I have no doubt. I know this because I’ve also gone up there. I’ve talked to citizens out there.

Our authority is derived from the people we serve. The people that work at Troop F are some of the most courageous, professional people that you’ll ever meet. I’m not saying that’s 100% of everybody, but I will tell you, the vast majority of the people that we have working in this agency will gladly and willingly give of themselves and sacrifice their lives.

We’ve made some (leadership) changes. And those changes have resulted in being compassionate, being empathetic. Those troopers have done a phenomenal job in a very difficult situation. You had a small contingent that was involved in that situation. But yet, every man and woman was judged by what others did. And they had to go out and work under that duress, each and every day.

Sutton: Early in your tenure, you promised that you would do a thorough review. Not that long ago, you announced a whole bunch of things you decided needed to be implemented. What are some of the important things you are certain will continue after your time?

Davis: So I can’t tell you if those reforms will continue because I’m not in control of the future. Nor will I be in charge of this agency. After Jan. 8, I can tell you that there are many men and women on this job that believe in that vision, and they will continue to carry out their duties. Regardless of who’s in charge, they’re going to continue to hold each other accountable, they’re going to continue to be transparent, they’re going to continue to have integrity as the foundation, and also compassion.

I think it’s important to note that a lot of these changes have been a result of my conversations with other men and women. Some have said, ‘Hey, we need to change, we need to do this.’ One specific change is that the training academy has gone from a warrior mindset to a guardian mindset. What’s significant about that is when that trooper leaves that academy, the mindset is ‘I want to serve my community,’ as opposed to ‘there are people that are against me.’

Then that results in a different set of actions and behavior, and generally determines the outcome of a situation. Instead of screaming and yelling, and having that shark attack type mentality, we’re now having a conversation. We’re providing guidance. We’re providing support.

Sutton: What’s your take on the role of State Police in more urban areas such as New Orleans, and on interstates? What’s your take on how state police have approached that in the past versus now?

Davis: In the past, we haven’t really been involved in urban policing, if you want to call it that. But in the past two administrations, we’ve gotten more involved.

I think it’s important because when we look at threats to our communities and threats to our citizens, our job is to work in areas to remove and deter people from adversely impacting our citizens and our communities. I think it’s important for us to continue to work with all of our agencies to remove that threat to our citizens and to our community.

When we look at crime, by the time the police get there are, there are so many missed opportunities. Oftentimes crime is a result of a social problem. And I think we need to really think of it in that manner, so that we can start to get in front of it, as opposed to coming in behind. We cannot police our way or wrestle our way out of these problems. We must educate people educate kids earlier and more often. I think we need to also provide more social and mental health support. As when we do that, then what we will find is we will have less people committing crimes.

Sutton: What’s your best advice and counsel for your successor?

Davis: Keep people first.

Sutton: You’re still a young man as you retire from this job, so what’s next?

Davis: In 2024, I’m gonna be at my house. I think I’ll get started with the list that my wife wants me to get started with. I’m gonna relax. I have worked 30-plus years, and I’ve been away from my family. You can’t give time back once it’s gone, but what I can do is make use of the time that I have. I will continue to give back, and I’ll continue to invest in our communities, I don’t know what that looks like, right now. I tell people all the time, public safety is my purpose, but people are my passion, and I’m going to continue to live according to my purpose and my passion.

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Louisiana

Here’s how Louisiana ranks when it comes to homes sold below market value

Published

5 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Louisiana has the eighth-highest number of homes sold below market value in the U.S., according to a recent study by Agent Advice.

Using Zillow home price data, researchers looked at the most recent 950 properties sold in each state to determine which states had the most properties being sold below market value.

In Louisiana, 61.2% of the most recent 950 properties sold were sold below market value, meaning only 38.8% of those properties sold at the list price or above.

Florida has the highest number of homes sold below market value at 69.4%, followed by Montana at 68.1% and Wyoming at 64.7%. Connecticut, meanwhile, has the lowest number of homes sold below market value at just 30.9%.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, the average percentage of list price received when selling a home stood at 98.1% in April, according to the latest available data from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors.

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Louisiana

Growing up in rural Louisiana was hard for many. Nolan Fontenot shares his story

Published

12 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Growing up in rural Louisiana was hard for many. Nolan Fontenot shares his story

Editor’s Note: On writer Melinda Rawls Howell’s trips to the East Feliciana Council on Aging she’s spoken with many who have shared stories of growing up in and around the Felicianas. While not a Feliciana native, Nolan Fontenot’s stories of his early childhood growing up in another parish are similar to those told by many who grew up in the Felicianas. Here is the first of a two-part series on Fontenot’s life.

Nolan Fontenot’s stories are full of readily recalled dates and memories of family, places, other people and events. They are also glimpses of local, Louisiana, American history and of personal challenges that many families may have experienced.

When listening to Fontenot tell who and where he came from, why he settled in Jackson and went to work at institutions in East and West Feliciana parishes, his reminiscing is tinged with humor and compassion — reflecting his personality and character.

He recalls days of struggle and hardships, kindness and opportunities, growth and change, finding God and ministering to others. He still speaks with a lingering Cajun French accent and sprinkles French expressions/words in his conversation with a slight smile.

A large family in rural America

Fontenot, 86, is one of 16 children born to Feranand Joseph Fontenot and Threase Charles Fontenot. He was born April 26, 1938, during the Great Depression, into a French-speaking, Catholic family on a cotton farm in Tate Cove off Wabash Road north of Ville Platte, in Evangeline Parish.

There were three sets of twins in his family, of which Fontenot is one, and his parents “lost one child at 8 months,” he adds. The first child, Abel, was born in 1918 followed by Lee in 1919, Melton in 1921, Clamie in 1923, by Ethel who was the infant who died, then Eula in 1926, twins Harris and John in 1928, Rosella in 1931, Aline and Louise in 1932, Eva in 1943, Irene in 1936, twins Enola and Nolan in 1938 followed by the last child, Edison, born in 1939.

Growing mostly cotton, the hardship payment and more

The farm was owned by Dr. Arthur Vidine, who Fontenot describes as “very good doctor.” As a sharecropper, his father had “to give one-third of his profits from his cotton and sweet potato crops to the landowner,” he explains. In addition to those crops, he says, they raised some corn, soybeans and rice.

“We were very poor … Evangeline Parish was a poor parish“ and “then came the Depression,” he says.

Except for farming, the only other regular source of income for the family was an $8-a-month “hardship” payment. This was because they lived near “the Cabot carbon-black plant” which “had no filters” and dropped airborne pollution onto everything, he says.

“The closer your farm was to the plant the more money you were paid” and “the carbon affected the color and price we got for the cotton,” he adds.

His father plowed the cotton fields behind one of two horses they owned — Honey or Bella. As a child, Fontenot says he “couldn’t wait until he was big enough” to help plow.

He says father “walked his life away.” His father, Fontenot says, “never owned an automobile … he had a wagon and a buggy.”

For meat they had some chickens and ate “coon” sometimes, he says. They ate crawfish but his mother “did not like to cook them,” he adds.

The cattle on the farm belonged to the landowner but the family could milk the cows in exchange for taking care of them, he adds. There were two barns on the site — one could hold “1,600 bales of hay for the cows in winter, “ he says. The other one was the stables and housed the buggy and wagon.

In the town of Ville Platte, they got store-bought necessities on credit at the store of Henri Vidrine, the brother of Dr. Vidrine. He remembers his sisters’ dresses were made from the cloth from flour sacks.

The mud house, chores, siblings, school

Fontenot’s family first lived in a one-bedroom house but they eventually moved into a three-bedroom house nearby on the same farm. He calls it the “mud house.” The wood-frame structure “had walls made of mud, twigs and Spanish moss that were whitewashed inside and covered with shiplap outside,” he says.

The house had a two-sided fireplace, he adds.

Drinking water came from a cistern and a small amount of “coal oil was added” to discourage mosquitoes. The water was also “strained through cloth to remove mosquito larvae.” There was “an outhouse for the girls to use and the barn for the boys,” he says.

Like most children growing up on a farm he helped with chores. After moving to town as a youth, he briefly worked at a creamery and was hired out to dig sweet potatoes and pick cotton. As for picking cotton he “wasn’t very good at it,” he says, shrugging and tilting his head slightly and that he was “slow” and, of course, “didn’t like the heat.”

As children they “went barefoot unless it was extremely cold,” he says. One of his older sisters, Irene, who he remembers as having a ready laugh, was the one who would defend them, when needed, on the school bus. Another sister, Rosella, was in charge of washing the kids in the evening but conditions were very basic — a shared bowl of water and cloth.

He remembers one of his older brothers, Melton, married at 16 and moved away to farm a place south of Ville Platte. Another older brother, Lee, was in the United States Army for eight years serving in the military police during World War II from 1941-1945.

Lunch during the school year was often “milk pudding sandwiches made on homemade bread” and “it was good,” he says.

He remembers that his only younger brother, Edison, did not want to go to school when it was his time. He says his little brother cried and cried and, arriving at school with several big pecans in his pocket, tried to give them to the teacher so she would let him stay with his big brother. “She probably didn’t even understand him” and that his prized pecans were an attempted bribe, he says.

The radio and electricity

The family had a box-shaped radio, which was powered by a large free-standing battery and connected to a tall antenna. They listened sparingly and mostly to the French programs and music, he says.

His parents did eventually get electricity on the farm in the 1950s.

It wasn’t too long afterward that they all moved into town, he says. Fontenot’s father died at 70 in 1969 and his mother lived to be 76 and passed away in 1977.

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Louisiana

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy touts infrastructure grants awarded to Louisiana municipalities, utility districts during Donaldsonville event

Published

19 hours ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy touts infrastructure grants awarded to Louisiana municipalities, utility districts during Donaldsonville event

Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy released a statement after awarding more than $52 million in grants from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to municipalities and gas utility districts during an event May 17 in Donaldsonville.

“This money will decrease the risk of explosion and decrease the amount of wasted methane which people are paying for, thus saving folks money,” Cassidy said in the announcement. “It also cleans up our environment. It’s a good investment of taxpayer dollars for the benefit of folks in Louisiana.”

In an effort to safeguard natural gas pipelines, nearly $1 billion will be awarded over a five-year span throughout the country with $392 million being awarded this year, the senator added.

As previously reported, the cities of Donaldsonville, Port Allen and Walker, the town of Berwick, and gas utility districts in East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana and West Feliciana parishes were grant recipients.

Similar funding was awarded last April with more than $27 million going to municipalities in south and central Louisiana.

Per Cassidy, the IIJA has awarded more than $9.1 billion to Louisiana since the president signed it into law in late 2021.

The funding has gone toward repairing bridges, building flood protection systems and extending broadband in rural areas.

Cassidy noted Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan’s city received the largest grant, which was $20 million to replace 27.3 miles of natural gas infrastructure.

Sullivan said the gas line improvement grant from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration “is a pivotal moment for the City of Donaldsonville.”

“Sen. Cassidy was instrumental in helping us secure this funding and we are deeply grateful for his unwavering support.,” the mayor said in the announcement. “This project is an investment in the future of our city and positions our community for continued growth.”

Gonzales Weekly Citizen and Donaldsonville Chief, part of the USA Today Network of Louisiana, cover Ascension Parish and the greater Baton Rouge area. Follow at facebook.com/WeeklyCitizen and facebook.com/DonaldsonvilleChief.

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