BATON ROUGE - Former Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff LeDuff is worried the next generation of law enforcement officers might be rethinking their careers after watching so many officers die in the line of duty.

"There's just no care about what happens to the man standing next to you," LeDuff said in a live interview on WBRZ News 2 at 10:00 Wednesday following coverage of yet another officer killed in the line of duty in Louisiana. LeDuff is frustrated over criminals having so much disregard for life, they target police.

Since the beginning of 2015, six officers have been killed in the line of duty in Louisiana. Wednesday, a police officer in Sunset was murdered in a rampage that also left a woman dead.  Earlier this week, a State Trooper was killed in the line of duty. 

"It's part of the national movement. Law enforcement have been seen in a vile way lately," LeDuff said. There are officers who do wrong, he admitted, but LeDuff said that most are normal people with lives.

"Ninety-nine percent are good, honest hard-working people that want to get home to their families. It's about deescalating. That's what law enforcement is, the buffer zone between chaos and calm."

LeDuff said communities need to rally around each other, and discuss ways to stop violence. He asked who will keep the peace if officers are too worried about being killed on the job, he asked: "Who is going to be the next generation, take that chance, if a life's not worth a conversation?"

LeDuff was the police chief from 2004 to 2010.

Watch the attached video for the full interview.

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