Louisiana police boss says he’s open to federal oversight
BATON ROUGE, La. — The head of the Louisiana State Police said Friday he wants to know why 67% of his agency’s uses of force in recent years have been directed at Black people, and would welcome a U.S. Justice Department “pattern and practice” probe into potential racial profiling if that is deemed necessary.
“If the community is concerned about that, obviously I am concerned about that,” Col. Lamar Davis told The Associated Press in an interview. “I’m a Black male. I don’t want to feel like I’m going to be stopped and thrown across a car just because of that, and I don’t want anyone else to feel that way.”
Davis’ comments came a day after an AP investigation identified at least a dozen cases over the past decade in which state police troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct. It included several newly obtained body camera videos of violent arrests that had been locked away for years. A video regarding these issues can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVixqI6ooEk.
“It challenged me emotionally, not just from a law enforcement perspective but as a citizen,” Davis said of viewing the footage. “But I have to put my emotions in check and understand what my duties are.”
“I don’t want the community thinking we’re going to ‘get them.’ Those are the types of things I’m trying to get to the root of.”
At an earlier news conference in Baton Rouge, Davis pointed to a series of reforms he has pushed through during his 11 months as state police superintendent, including new policies and practices for how his agency handles cases of excessive force. He also said he’s looking to hire an outside agency to carry on the work of a secret panel the state police had set up to determine whether troopers systematically abused Black motorists. He acknowledged the panel was shut down in July following leaks about its work.
Davis, in the interview, said he did not believe excessive force has become widespread enough among state troopers to warrant a pattern and practice investigation by the Justice Department. However, he said he wants the opportunity to correct the agency’s issues before federal authorities intervene, pointing to the benefits of hiring an outside firm to conduct a comparable review.
“With regards to the Justice Department, if they decide that they’re going to come in and assess us on that then I welcome it,” Davis said in the news conference. “I’m not going to wait on them. I’m already in contact with other organizations to look at my agency and help us become better.”