Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office Releases their Annual Report

By Megan M. Duhon | Member News, News | Comments are Closed | 15 March, 2019 | 0

The Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office has released its third annual “Year in Review” report outlining operations of the department over the past year, including comparisons from the past three years.
“Several years ago, I set some extremely broad goals for our deputies. Our main goal from day one was to treat our citizens and our visitors as our customers,” Sheriff K.P. Gibson said in the introduction to the report. “When you provide good customer service in business, you get returning customers and a successful business.
“Good customer service in law enforcement is not about having return customers,” the sheriff continues. “It means that we will focus on every person’s issues with the mindset to resolve their specific concern to the best of our ability.
“Being a professional law enforcement agency requires that we listen to your concerns and do everything within our ability to resolve your issue.”
Featured in the report, issued each year since Gibson assumed office, is a synopsis of the various division of the sheriff’s office.
Patrol Division: “Our deputies patrol over 600 miles of roadways within our parish,” Gibson says. In 2018, patrol units put a total of 962,000 miles on the fleet. That is an average of nearly 48,000 miles per unit.”
Gibson also points out that deputies have reduced response time average to 15-16 minutes and “deputies continue a proactive patrol to support our various communities.”
Calls for service have dropped to 11,316 from 12,055 since 2017. In 2016, the office answered 13,433 calls for service.
Corrections Division: “As our 180-bed jail remains near capacity on a daily basis, our personnel continue to work hard to operate one of the most difficult sections of the department,” Gibson says. “As a department, we have made numerous changes to the security of the jail and have seen a major decrease in contraband attempting to be brought in.”
Gibson added that the transportation unit has traveled 49,318 miles in 2018 picking up prisoners, including out-of-state trips.
Bookings at the parish jail in 2018 numbered 2,525, down from 2,895 the year prior. There were 2,709 bookings recorded in 2016.
Criminal Investigations Division: “We have seen a decrease of investigations assigned over the past three years,” says Gibson. “The result of this is the reduction of calls for service to patrol dripping by nearly 2,000 calls from 2016 to 2018.
“Investigators also recovered stolen property which was over double the value of the previous year.”
For 2018, a total of 534 investigations were opened, down from 657 in 2017 and 758 in 2016.
Arrests resulting from investigations were down to 137 for 2018 from 172 the year before, and decreased from 234 in 2016.
The value of property recovered skyrocketed to $689,532 for 2018, up from $319,746 in 2017 and $121,901 in 2016.
Narcotics Division: While the number of criminal investigations assigned was down, the number of narcotics investigations climbed, according to the sheriff’s report.
“Agents remain busy as the narcotic trade continues to grow,” he says. “This problem affects everyone in one way or another.”
Gibson noted that, in 2018, agents with his office recovered 27 weapons, nearly $30,000 in asset forfeitures and recovered just over $100,000 of illegal drugs.
A total of 188 narcotics investigations were opened in 2018, up from 158 last year. That compares to 181 investigations opened in 2016.
Sex Offender Registry Unit: “The goal of this unit is to assure that sex offenders are complying with the requirement of public notifications, registrations and other laws,” Gibson says.
The sheriff’s office frequently teams up with Probation and Parole Agents to conduct compliance checks to assure that laws are followed.
While the number of registered offenders dropped from 249 in 2017 to 167 in 2018, the number of compliance checks increased from 89 to 121 during that same time frame.
Training Unit: “We believe in training!” We provide our deputies with a 40-hour course which covers all requirements by the POST Council and the State of Louisiana,” Gibson says.
The course is conducted once a month and is offered to all agencies within Acadia Parish for joint training.
“We also have instructors who assist with other classes during the year as well as send out personnel to schools to maintain our training and grow with changing techniques,” the sheriff explains.
Training hours increased from 10,015 in 2017 to 10,993 in 2018. That’s up from just 5,210 in 2016.
SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics): In 2018, the sheriff’s SWAT team was deployed 17 times for narcotics-related operations and high-risk arrests, according to Gibson.
“Our Crisis Negotiation Team was utilized one time and successfully negotiated the surrender of a suicidal person,” he added.
The SWAT team has trained over 200 hours in 2018.
Under Gibson, the sheriff’s office also has taken an active role in community activities. Some of the activities implemented or continued include:
• Phone-a-Friend
• Operation Blue Christmas
• Coffee With the Sheriff
• Child Custody and Internet Purchase Safe Zone
• Hunter Safety Education
• Nursing Home Visits
• Sheriff’s Scholarship Program
• Crime Stoppers
“I hope that citizens find this year’s annual report provides them with information regarding the operations of the sheriff’s office,” Gibson said.
The annual report has been mailed to all citizens of Acadia Parish. Additional copies are available at the sheriff’s office at 1037 Capitol Avenue.