Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator is upset that the State Division of Administration has sent six M-16 rifles to the office of DA Charles Rex Scott.
Further, Prator maintains that the sheriff is sworn to maintain the peace, not the DA.
He has further asked the DA not to use them and to either return them or donate them to a law enforcement agency. Prator said that the DA has been told that his investigators, who are commissioned officers, are only to carry pistols.
The weapons were acquired through the Louisiana Federal Property Assistance Agency, which is a program supervised by the Division of Administration to give out all sorts of federal goodies to local governments.
In a side note, the DA investigator who notified the sheriff of the weapons was fired by Scott.
But not for telling the sheriff about the weapons.
Thankfully, Schuyler Marvin said his office has no such weapons, and that when he took office he collected a bunch of guns from employees.
DA investigators are commissioned and do carry sidearms.
I just think the whole episode is curious, and it will be interesting to watch and see what develops.
Sidenote to the Times: M-16’s are not machine guns.
Here is the Times article about this.
"Sidenote to the Times: M-16’s are not machine guns."
ReplyDeleteI love it!!!
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g125/nivekwerd/mediaguns.jpg
Thanks for the link, I'm still laughing. Just added it to the blog post.
ReplyDeleteHugo Holland is a excellent prosecutor but he is a weird individual. He is chief of the reserve unit for BCPD. Ask any officer. They will tell you they hate it when he shows up on their calls. He usually shows up smoking a cigar and wielding some outrageous weapon. I believe he is more interested in being a police officer than a DA. I'm sure he is the reason for all the guns and police lights on their vehicles. Prator has every right to be suspicious of this.
ReplyDeleteYour are an idiot!
DeleteSidenote: what is written pernission?
ReplyDeleteThe display is wrong as the AK47 and M16 are reversed.
ReplyDelete5:14, You must have viewed Jim's picture shortly after waking up. Now that you're more awake look at it again. Here's a clue, it's a joke, and a pretty darned funny one, too.
ReplyDelete7:01 - it is when you have to write down that you pernit someone to do something.
ReplyDeleteDA Office is a law enforcement agency
ReplyDelete-DA Office got FREE weapons from the Government.
-DA Office complied with all state and federal law.
-DA Office investigators are ALL former SPD officers or Caddo Sheriffs.
-DA Office investigators have the same level of protection as every other law enforcement officer in Caddo.
-SPD AND Caddo Deputies have HUNDREDS of the SAME free Federal Government surplus rifles.
-DA Office Investigators and DAs prosecute the most violent and dangerous offenders in Caddo.
And the Sheriff is mad because DA Office didn't get his approval for something they don't need his approval for.
WOW!!!
Anon at 1120, Thanks for the info whoever you are that works for the DA's office, I think I know. First off they have absolutely no business with these type of weapons. NONE. I don't see detectives with SPD or CADDO walking around with automatic weapons, even if they are in the trunk. This is stupid, your comment at 213,is right on the money. Prator is a smart guy and damn good Sheriff, he will have all his ducks in a row. What we do not need is a bunch of rogue wannabes running around with fully automatic weapons. What we do need is excellent investigators, but I guess the DA just fires those when the beans are spilled.
ReplyDeleteDoes bossier care if prators ego is hurt - new topic please
ReplyDeleteBossier only wishes they had a real law enforcement leader, including the city, like Prator. All we get are wannabes and one of the Muppets.
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome that anon 4:27 is the 'great determiner' of who should have these weapons. I don't step in the shoes of the DA or Sheriff and tell them how they should be equiped. It makes no sense for you too make that call.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that the detectives you mentioned all have these weapons in their trunk and if the DA feels his investigators should have them is up to him. The DA is the chief law enforcement of the parish. To say otherwise is just silly.
The way you recruit and keep good cops as investigators is to equip them properly. As far as the fired investigator, we'll just have to find out what happened.
Also, what I heard is that the fired investigator is buddies with the sheriff. This is just a poor attempt to get cheap political payback for his termination.
I agree. todays times article illustrates that the paper is trying to embarass the DA office. The article states that the only time the ADA used his blue lights was when he pulled over a drunk driver and called for a marked unit. heck, that is what I would expect him to do. Should he have ignored what he saw and let the drunk run over somebody? The Times should cover newsworthy material and not try to create some
ReplyDeleteI still see no need for the DA's office to have fully automatic weapons. Looks to me like they want to be real cops but make lawyer salaries. That's just my impression. I don't think they do the initial investigation on any crime, only follow ups for trials and hearing for the DA. They don't patrol streets that's not their job. Maybe we should arm all the private investigators that work for the defense attorneys with automatic weapons too!!, I don't think so. This is ridiculous. Prator is right.
ReplyDeleteThe Times actually has a good article on this. I hope the Sheriff pulls the commission.
ReplyDeletethis is all bull. of all the crime that occurs in caddo parish, 95% of it is inside the city. those cases are handled by the city police, not the sheriff. the sheriff has noting to do with those cases
ReplyDeleteI read the Times story Sunday. Why is it front page news that an assistant district attorney used his emergency lights to pull over a drunk driver? I assume us taxpayers paid for those lights. so what/when is he supposed to use them?? If he had not pulled the person over and someone had been killed, you would be yelling for the resignation of the guy.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for the next volley of automatic fire coming from the Sprague street area. Will it be a leftover group of the Bottom Boyz or a bored Caddo DA making a traffic stop after an exhaustive high speed chase in their unmarked car with flashing lights? It's bad enough they have radios. You want to be a cop? Try Bossier or SPD. We have enough wanna be's running around now in salvaged police units. Who's going to know the difference?
ReplyDeleteThe issue is whether the DA's Office is an eligible agency to even receive these type of surplus items from the DLA:
ReplyDelete"(A)suitable for use by the agencies in law enforcement activities, including counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities ... (d) ... the Secretary shall give preference to those applications indicating transferred property will be used in the counter-drug or counter -terrorism activities of the recipient agency." Title 10 USC, Section 2576a
The Louisiana Federal Property Assistance Agency's website states, "Agencies with law enforcement activities are defined as government agencies whose primary function is the enforcement of applicable federal, state and local laws and whose compensated law enforcement officers have powers of arrest and apprehension."
The 1033 Louisiana LESO Application contains a "Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Louisiana and the ___________ Sheriff/Police Department". The Application also ask the Law Enforcement Agency to list the "Number of Compensated Officers with Arrest and Apprehension Authority".
The duties of the DA are defined by LSA-R.S. 16:1 which states, "...shall represent the state in all civil actions, and shall have charge of every criminal prosecution by the state in his district, be the representative of the state before grand juries in his district, and be the adviser to the grand juries". No where does the law state that the District Attorneys "have powers of arrest and apprehension."
In regard to DA Investigators LSA-RS 16:13.1 states, "... they shall not have the right to make arrests, except as citizens under the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 214."
In other words, the DA is not a law enforcement agency nor does its employees, in their role as employees of the DA's office, have the powers of arrest and apprehension. If a DA, ADA, or DA Investigator arrests someone, then they are doing so under authority other than that provided to the DA (i.e as a part-time Sheriff Deputy). It appears that the DA's office does not have the power to arrest and apprehend and is not eligible for these surplus items in the first place.
I sm not an attorney, but apparently you are judging by the quotations you make. However, in this case you are obviously wrong in your last statement. The DA offfice is not only eligible, the have alreaady received the surplus items
ReplyDelete"The DA offfice is not only eligible, the have alreaady received the surplus items"
ReplyDeleteThe point is not that the DA's Office has the weapons, but, if they are not an eligible agency, then the issue becomes what representations did it make to to the DLA to obtain the weapons? What does the 1033 LESO Application state?
I wish Hugo and the fired investigator would start their own blog. Bossier does not care if Scott forgot to say "Steve - may I please have some automatic guns". What a joke - just keep that crap on the other side of the river
ReplyDeleteJudge Scott is one of the most decent and honest men around. If he thinks his DA office needs weopons then so be it. One must remember that his office deals with the worst of the criminal element and his employees must be able to protect themselves and innocent folks. M-16 are not machine guns and most law enforecement carry some type of semi-auto rifles. The DA office should be praised for making such good economic purchases and saving the taxpayer at least $10,000 dollars in this recent purchase. I do not live in Caddo Parish or work for the DA nor do I have a problem with the Caddo DA office being armed. Criminals are armed and you can't tell them "Do not shoot me yet. I am waiting on the Cops to get here"
ReplyDeleteYep, lawyers need fully auto assault rifles as part of their kit. That is why the second year of law school is spent in courses such as close quarters combat, forced entry, hostage scenarios; heck, I hear they spend more time in the shoot house than they do the golf course. Look, these suits found a loophole to allow them to get some really cool toys on the government dime and now they are circling the wagons because they are busted. They like to pretend that they fast rope out of a helo to get to work in the mornings, or that they are a secret squirrel working for one of the alphabet agencies. I bet half of them have military backgrounds that they could tell you about but they would have to kill you if they did. They need to quit pretending that Zombies are about to attack and focus on their job - they are lawyers, they go to court and talk to judges and other highly trained ninjas (oops, I mean attorneys) and let the real sheep dogs keep the wolves at bay.
ReplyDelete12:07,
ReplyDeleteI agree fully. I would bet you anything these guns would end up at some of the officials residence if Prator hadn't busted them. They can justify all the guns and police lights on their vehicles but really it's all for show. I'm sure there is a little more to it than what we've read so far.
Anon at 4:14, Well said! The fact they have these weapons is beyond ridiculous. Reap what you sow, mister DA. Scott needs to back off and re-evaluate. Hope Prator removes their commissions.
ReplyDeleteall of you are missing the point. They already have the guns!! If the DA office was not authorized to receive them, they would not have obtained possession of them. This is over. Move on to something else
ReplyDeleteI would like to know why the DA investigator was fired. My understanding is he had an excellent reputation.
ReplyDelete8:25,
ReplyDeleteI think your missing the point. It's not that he has them. It why does he have them. I personally think he planned on giving them away as gift for his employees. Scott claimed he bought them because he got a really good deal on them. All this justification regarding investigating of dangerous people was done on this blog. He got caught. I don't think this the last we heard on this.
8:25 is an idiot. You cannot give away automatic weapons as a gift without going to jail bd the federal government inventories property on loan. Go back to watching cartoons.
ReplyDeleteI hear the Sheriff and DA have kissed and made up, so this will be out of the news soon. However, this is also interesting. Louisiana law provides "Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, investigators of a district attorney's office shall not receive state supplemental pay." Added by Acts 1978, No. 566, §1. http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=79490 By Deputizing the ADA's and DA Investigators does the Sheriff's Office receive Supplemental Pay from the State since they are considered deputies? Is this just a run around the law or an unintended consequence?
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:12,
ReplyDeleteKnow what what your talking about before you call someone an idiot. It can be done.
Do explain idiiot.
ReplyDeleteNope
ReplyDeleteAt first he needed them because ofvthe high profile and dangerous people they deal with. A little negative attention get brought ontonthe situation and now he is selling them. Something is not right.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ktbs.com/news/Sheriff-asks-for-investigation-of-DA-machine-guns/-/144844/9266824/-/le1fi8z/-/index.html
ReplyDeleteKTBS calls them Machine Guns as well......
He fires the guy for telling Prator but then says he didn't know he was ordering automatic weapons. He says he obtained them legally and that he needed them for his investigators but now he is selling them to Webster Parish. The D.A just got caught and now he is lying.
ReplyDelete