BATON ROUGE- BRPD Chief Murphy Paul announced on Monday the launch of a new telephone reporting unit ahead of Governor John Bel Edwards’ stay at home order. 

“We are going to forward phone calls, calls for service that typically a police officer would respond to,” Chief Paul said.

Here’s how it works: if you call 911, or Baton Rouge Police (225-389-2000), for something like a minor car accident with no injuries, a dispatcher may forward your call to an available officer over the phone at the tele-reporting unit located in the Real-Time Crime Center at BRPD headquarters. 

“Those are non-emergency calls for services where you will be able to file a police report in a timely manner without actually having a police officer respond to the scene,” Chief Paul said.

You can even now file a report through a live video chat with an officer by scanning a QR code with the camera on your smart phone.

Video kiosks are also located at all but one of Baton Rouge Police’s precincts for those without access to a smartphone.

Chief Paul says that the tele-reporting unit will help the department continue to serve during these trying times.

“This will give us an opportunity to be more proactive in the community, while at the same time, practicing social distancing,” Chief Paul said.

He says the unit will also help his department, and other parish agencies, address those who do not comply with Governor John Bel Edwards’ COVID-19 proclamations.

“This service that we’re providing is to help you. It’s also to help our first-responders. It gives us an opportunity to continue addressing calls for service, not only in a timely manner. But, unfortunately, there are some individuals in our city who have not listened to some of the directives that have been issued. So, we’re going to be focusing our efforts in those areas,” Chief Paul said.

As of Monday, no local or statewide curfews have been put into place. Chief Paul says if people comply with the governor’s orders, it is less likely that a curfew will be put in place.