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Monday, December 06, 2021

"If any"

Page Cortez sure sounds fired up about taking steps to deal with our out of control State Police force next spring.  That is, "if any" need to be taken.  They might just wait and see what the Superintendent can find out about that first.

Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, named the committee of four Republicans and three Democrats with a goal of delivering a report by Oct. 31. Foil said he hopes to get a report ready prior to the Legislature returning in March of its regular legislative session.

“The creation of this oversight committee came about at the request of Senate members in order to find out what the agency has learned over the last few years, what they have done to change their policies and what, if any, bills that may need to be filed in the upcoming session in order to improve our agency,” Cortez said.

Davis said he started with a top-to-bottom review conducted internally. He discontinued that review and went to find outside analysts to oversee the report. He hopes to sign the contract early next year and have a definitive report before the end of 2022.

Yeah that report might take a while. I mean.. there's a lot to review

An AP review of internal investigative records and newly obtained videos identified at least a dozen cases over the past decade in which Louisiana State Police troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct.

AP's review — coming amid a widening federal investigation into state police misconduct — found troopers have made a habit of turning off or muting body cameras during pursuits. When footage is recorded, the agency routinely refuses to release it. And a recently retired supervisor who oversaw a particularly violent clique of troopers told internal investigators this year that it was his "common practice" to rubber-stamp officers' use-of-force reports without reviewing body-camera video.

In some cases, troopers omitted uses of force such as blows to the head from official reports, and in others troopers sought to justify their actions by claiming suspects were violent, resisting or escaping, all of which were contradicted by video footage.

"Hyper-aggressiveness is winked upon and nodded and allowed to go on," said Andrew Scott, a former Boca Raton, Florida, police chief and use-of-force expert who reviewed videos obtained by AP. "It's very clear that the agency accepts that type of behavior."

So okay we'll wait until all that gets sorted to see "if any bills need to be filed."   OR Davis also floated this idea instead. 

With 924 troopers on staff, Davis said he needs 200 more to decrease the amount of work individuals have to do. “We are expecting them to do more with less,” he said.

Because sure maybe what we've got right now is a 1000 strong armed death squad acting with what appears to be complete impunity. But, hear me out, what if we had 200 more of them?

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