Col. Lawrence McLeary: No. 2 in Sheriff’s Office

Former Trooper Heads Criminal Division for Sid

CENTRAL — With 36 years in law enforcement, Col. Lawrence McLeary has seen it all.  Now, as the No. 2 man in the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, he will have a much greater role in the fight against crime.

McLeary has been appointed chief of the Criminal Division of the Sheriff’s Office and second in command to Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.

McLeary said he hopes to break through the “wall of silence” that keeps residents of crime-filled neighborhoods from reporting what they know to law enforcement.

“We need more community involvement,” McLeary said, “and we need to encourage people to come forward.  Fear is the biggest factor.  The majority of the people in neighborhoods where crime is a serious problem are good people, but they are afraid.”

McLeary was a Chicago policeman for four years before moving south in 1978.  He was a State Trooper from 1979 until he retired in 2008.  He served at Troop A, Troop L, and the Governor’s Mansion.  He worked the highways of the state and later in Internal Affairs, Riverboat gambling regulation, and as a public information officer.

His wife is an attorney for the State Police, and he has three sons, including one in the U. S. Army.

McLeary’s father served in World War II and the family had “a very orderly home,” he said.  That’s one reason he said he was drawn to law enforcement.  “For me, it was either serve in the military or law enforcement.  It gave me a chance to be part of something larger than myself and to feel like I could contribute to society,” he said.

Col. McLeary expressed concern about the direction of society today.  He recalled one day as a child playing in a friend’s back yard.  He said a curse word.  The friend’s mother heard him and gave him a spanking.  “Then she called my dad, and he gave me a spanking too!” he said.

“Today, young people are very technologically advanced.  They have far more opportunities than we did.  Yet, sometimes they take things for granted.  We have too many single-parent households, and not many young people go to church on Sunday morning.  When I was a boy, everyone I knew was in church on Sunday morning,” he said.

McLeary said we must build strong families and strong neighborhoods, and law enforcement must do its job.

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Sheriff Sid Gautreaux has inaugurated a new substation serving Chaneyville-Pride and northeast Central.  The commander is Capt. Richard Harris.  The building was donated by Exxon.

By Central City News editor Woody Jenkins