49°
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7 Day Forecast
Follow our weather team on social media

State Attorney General hosts roundtable to combat growing crime rates

2 years 1 month 3 weeks ago Wednesday, January 26 2022 Jan 26, 2022 January 26, 2022 7:06 PM January 26, 2022 in News
Source: WBRZ

It was a closed-door meeting Wednesday between high-powered law enforcement officials hoping to solve the crime problem in the capital area.

"The message was, 'How do we remove the bad elements off the street so that the good people in our neighborhood can go about their daily lives?'" said Attorney General Jeff Landry.

The group was open to questions after their private conference.
Sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys, and Landry's ace-in-the-hole US attorney Ronald Gathe.

"I think that in us doing this, you know, it's not going to happen in one meeting, it's not going to happen in two meetings. This is a problem that didn't happen overnight and it's not just going to go away tomorrow, but the more and more we put our resources together, it can only help. It can't hurt," Gathe said.

Landry hopes getting the feds involved will send a message to criminals.

"Part of the reason that we wanted to have a discussion with the US Attorney is that when you bring the weight of the federal government into a city that's having a problem, when they get involved and recognized that the violence inside the same community that they're sitting in, then that system starts to work," Landry said.

Questions about low bond amounts for repeat offenders and domestic abusers were answered by shifting the blame to politicians.

"We have dealt with one hand tied behind our back because this legislature has repealed minimum standards and they've unleashed some relaxed laws on these juveniles. We have to fix that," said Tony Clayton, 18th DA.

"It's high time the legislature starts putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to domestic violence," Landry said.

The group promises this won't be their last meeting.

More News

Desktop News

Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Radar
7 Days