ZACHARY – The Zachary Police Department is turning to Entergy to help prevent crime in the city. Chief of Police David McDavid sent a letter with a list of addresses where street lights are out to Entergy in hopes of brightening up neighborhoods.

“Known criminals are going to hide in darkness,” McDavid said. “They can creep through neighborhoods behind cars, houses, buildings and bushes. So we can light up these neighborhoods and hopefully deter crime.”

The police department first noticed the problem after Hurricane Laura.

“We began riding the city at night checking some things and we noticed a lot of the lights were out,” McDavid said.

With Halloween coming up and more people getting outdoors during the pandemic, the police chief is looking to make Zachary neighborhoods safer. Though McDavid knows it could take a bit. Entergy has had a busy couple of months restoring power after multiple hurricanes.

"I know they'll get on this project as soon as they can, and they've already started. I've submitted a list before of a couple addresses before and they got on it and took care of the lights,” McDavid said.

Chief McDavid is looking to continue this effort, asking homeowners to report street lights that need to be replaced.

Entergy says it will take them about a week to fix all 18 street lights on the list.