New Regs for Central Police

The Central City Council has passed and Mayor David Barrow is expected to sign an ordinance to create standards for hiring City of Central reserve police officers.

The ordinance passed 7-0 but only after hours of negotiations between Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran, Councilwoman D’Ann Wells, and other members of the Council.

The Lawrason Act, a state law that governs municipalities like the City of Central, gives the City Council authority over the hiring and firing of police officers, whether full-time, parttime, or reserve officers.

The Central Police Department currently has two full-time employees, Chief Corcoran and Assistant Chief Ben Odom; seven part-time paid officers; three part-time dispatchers; one part-time administrative assistant/dispatcher, and six unpaid reserve officers. Seven additional reserve officers are currently in the reserve academy. 

Councilwoman Wells said she was motivated to introduce the ordinance in order to provide some basic rules for hiring of reserve officers.  The ordinance only addresses reserve officers.

Central is unique in Louisiana because it has only four employees. As a result, it has not developed extensive personnel policies found in most cities.

Mrs. Wells said state law requires that the city adopt personnel policies but that has not been done. Years ago, the city had a committee which discussed the problem but no action was taken.

“It’s important to have regulations and hiring procedures,” she said. “Until now, we have had no ordinances and the chiefs of police have not adopted guidelines. I spoke with human resources people at the Sheriff’s office about guidelines and at the Louisiana Municipal Association about insurance.” The ordinance requires a background check, previous employment records, approval for vehicle insurance, a matrix exam, and post certification if applicable.

Most of these things are already being done but the ordinance makes them mandatory. Several controversies arose as a result of the original language in Wells’ proposal. 

First, the proposed ordinance limited the number of reserve officers to 15. Chief Corcoran was unhappy with that because he already has 15 either already on duty or in the academy, and that would leave no room for growth.

Councilman Josh Roy objected to the 15-person limit. He said these officers are donating their time for our safety. “Why would we want to limit this?”

As a result, the 15-person limit on reserve officers was taken out.

Another controversy arose over a provision of the proposed ordinance that would have prohibited Central reserve police officers from being paid for working extra duty for private employers or public agencies.

As written, the ordinance would have prohibited reserve officers from receiving any compensation for providing police services. However, the ordinance was amended to make it clear that the City of Central would not pay any compensation but they would not be prohibited from working for other entities.

Despite some misgivings with the original proposal, Chief Corcoran said he is satisfied with what passed. Mayor David Barrow said the Lawrason Act gives this power to the Council, that he has heard no complaints since the ordinance passed, and he intends to sign it.

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