Roger Corcoran Is New Police Chief

With the resignation of most of the Central Police Department after the Nov. 8 election, newly-elected Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran is assembling a whole new police department.
The new chief says the mission will change.
“We will write tickets, but they will be tickets for safety reasons. Our primary focus will be protecting our citizens. We will be visible in our neighborhoods and will bring back neighborhood watch programs,” he said.
He said he has already hired key staff who are all post-certified. In addition, he expects to have 14 to 20 reserve officers going to the Sheriff’s Reserve Academy.
Other departments have offered to provide training for his personnel, and the chief said Central will take advantage of those offers. Besides the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office, those offering training assistance are the Zachary Police Department, West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s office, and the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s office.
The Central Police Department has a budget of $758,000, and Chief Corcoran has pledged to work within that budget.
Patrols in Central are now operating from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. When the new reserves come onboard,
he plans to expand those hours.
The Central Police Department won’t be handling all law enforcement in Central but rather will continue to assist the Sheriff’s office, he said.
Although Chief Corcoran and two others on the staff can work a homicide scene, the department is too small to have a crime scene division, he said.
Corcoran said that in the past, sometimes one officer was sent out on a call alone. “That’s not safe,” Corcoran said, and “we have to have backups to keep our people safe.”
If Central officers are busy writing a wreck, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office will cover the city.
Central police will be wearing new uniforms, because the old uniforms were embroidered with officers’ names and cannot be reused, Chief Corcoran said.
The chief said the Central Police Department will not have a motorcycle division, because it is too big a liability.
The first Council meeting of the new term held Jan. 8 discussed the Chief’s pay, which is currently about $23,000. The chief said he is on duty seven days a week, and that salary is too low, but he plans to leave the matter on hold until the department’s budget is set for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

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