Sound Off Louisiana

Recently-retired LSP Captain Heath Guillotte.

When we published our October 22, 2025 feature awarding LSP a grade of “A” for its handling of the Kyren Lacy matter, recently-retired LSP Captain Heath Guillotte opted to make a comment on the feature concerning our corresponding grade for LSP of “F” on LSP’s trustworthiness and transparency.

Here’s Guillotte’s comment on LSP’s trustworthiness and transparency as it pertains to its leadership (LSP Col. Robert Hodges):

 

I completely agree. LSP is anything but transparent under this administration. When I retired I was denied the ability to purchase my weapons, although troopers who retired after being arrested were allowed to do so, and was refused a retirement ID. No reason given other than, “the colonel denied it.” If you stood up against this administration for what was right or for your personnel, you became a target. I learned this first hand. I look forward to sharing my experience.

Six (6) days after we published the article, on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, Guillotte visited with us to share what his life became like after LSP Col. Robert Hodges was sworn in as Colonel of LSP:

10/28/25:  Guillotte describes what his life became like after the swearing in of LSP Col. Robert Hodges into office.

Here are links for support documents referenced by Guillotte in the above video:

==> 2/9/24 Letter of Counseling for Social Media “Ice Man” post.

==> Guillotte’s  response to the Letter of Counseling drafted sometime between 2/9/24 and 2/15/24.

==> Hodges’ 2/15/24 response to Guillotte and his forwarding of same to Robert Lummus.

==>  Guillotte’s promotional summary which he provided to us with an indication that a table we were producing focusing on then-Col. Lamar Davis’ promotions would be more revealing to incorporate such promotional summaries into the table (which we did based on his guidance).

==> Email dated April 19, 2025 which Guillotte inadvertently sent to Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns rather than LSP LTC Robert Burns along with all of LSP’s Command Staff.

==> Subsequent LSP Press Release with far more detail sent hours after Guillotte’s inadvertent sending of the email to Sound Off’s Burns.

==> Guillotte’s June 17, 2025 response to the proposed discipline Hodges imposed for the inadvertent email sent to Sound Off’s Burns.

As mentioned on the video with Guillotte above, we have consolidated two Internal Affairs interviews conducted with Guillotte about email correspondence with Burns (one on May 16, 2025 and the other on June 26, 2025).  Here is the video of those combined interviews:

5/16/25 & 6/26/25 IA questioning of Guillotte regarding email correspondence with Sound Off Louisiana‘s Robert Burns.

As noted on the first video above, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns was honored to be invited to Guillotte’s retirement party in Morgan City on August 16, 2025.

That party was very well attended, and it was very obvious that a very large number of colleagues, former colleagues, other law enforcement officials, and friends have strong admiration and respect for Guillotte.

We have intentionally refrained from making commentary on either of the videos above and, as Burns stated on the feature video above, he tried to interject himself as little as possible in order that the floor belong, to the maximum extent possible, to retired LSP Captain Heath Guillotte.  Obviously, as always, we welcome comments on this feature for anyone who may wish to express them.

Guillotte visited with Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns for hours both before and after the October 22, 2025 feature video shown above.  Guillotte appears to be very relaxed and content in life, and he showed us a camp and furnishings he’s built himself from sinker cypress.

Seeing his obvious pride in that accomplishment makes evident to us the fact that his talents extend far beyond having served for 27-1/2 years at LSP and rising to a Command Officer and, in our humble opinion, being a first-rate LSP Captain!

We have been honored to have known him, and we look forward to continuing our communication lines with him and wish him nothing but the very best in his retirement years.

Baton Rouge government watchdog Leslie Davis states to WAFB (Channel 9 in Baton Rouge)’s Liam Combs on September 30, 2025 her opposition to EBRP Mayor President’s THRIVE initiative scheduled for a vote on November 15, 2025 because it includes a tax increase.  Photo courtesy of WAFB (Channel 9) in Baton Rouge.

Voters began receiving a mailer in yesterday’s (Wednesday, October 29, 2025) mail which touts EBRP Mayor-President’s THRIVE vote scheduled for November 15, 2025, with early voting beginning this Saturday, November 1, 2015.

Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns attended the September 29, 2025 meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club at which EBRP Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ representatives, Councilwoman Jen Racca and the Mayor’s Office Director, Mason Batts, outlined the plan and fielded questions on it.

Regrettably, Burns inadvertently formatted the memory card on his camera believing he had transferred all of its files onto his hard drive, only to discover that the files for that meeting had not been transferred prior to formatting.

Consequently, we are going to have to improvise and  refer folk who want to watch the entire presentation to WLPB’s (public broadcasting in Baton Rouge)’s YouTube video of the meeting.

Baton Rouge government watchdogs Ernie Lewis, Pennie Landry, and Leslie Davis all grilled Batts about whether THRIVE represents a tax increase.  Again, improvising, let’s present the “quick and dirty one word answer of ‘yes’” by taking an excerpt from WAFB’s Liam Combs’ coverage of the meeting.  Here is the excerpt:

9/30/25:  After Leslie Davis, Ernie Lewis, and Pennie Landry succeed at the meeting in obtaining an admission that the THRIVE vote does include a tax increase, Davis expresses her opposition to the plan “for that reason.”

At a subsequent meeting, October 13, 2025, the proposed new LSU arena was the topic of discussion, and we’ll be presenting that meeting with more in-depth coverage in coming weeks because we triple-checked our computer this time, and the video files pertaining to it are in fact there.

We apologize to our site visitors because we strongly prefer to present video coverage of the meetings wherein the individual posing the question at the meeting is on video as well as the guest’s answer being on video.

Unfortunately, due to a first-in-ten-year botched file transfer on our parts, we weren’t able to do that for this particular meeting.  We also thank the folk at WAFB for being able to bail us out!

Early voting begins Saturday, November 1, 2025, so go let your sentiments be known whatever they may be.

Kendra Bazile, along with family friend “Junior,” engage in the second of a four-part series entailing the single-car crash that claimed the life of her son, Jordan Whitley, on January 26, 2024 and the potential for shortcomings on the parts of first responders who responded to and/or investigated the response since the time of the crash.

In Segment One of our feature on the death of Jordan Whitley after two automated 911 calls, we introduced our site visitors to a stellar investigative report by Bess Casserleigh (WBRZ, Channel 2 in Baton Rouge) which focused on potential shortcomings of the EBRP EMS system entailing two automated calls placed from Whitley’s vehicle immediately after he crashed into a tree.

In Segment Two of this fascinating feature, we delve much deeper into Whitley’s mother’s relentless efforts to try and ascertain just what all transpired that fateful morning of January 26, 2024:

Bazile and Junior begin a deep dive regarding Bazile’s efforts to obtain answers regarding the crash that claimed her son’s life on January 26, 2024.

This blog is video in nature, so the only thing we want to add to the above video is support documents which Bazile supplied to us for publication.

First, let’s provide details of the Ford 911-Assist features which were present in Whitley’s vehicle:

Next, let’s draw attention to a segment of the EBRP Communications District’s March 24, 2024 Minutes (which would seem applicable at the time of Whitley’s crash):

Commissioner Kimble stated that there are problems involving dropped 911 calls.

Finally, let’s examine a few highlights of a court-approved analyst who analyzed the 911 calls which originated from Whitley’s vehicle:

At 00:33.733 a ghostly voice says, “Help” followed immediately with a distinct “Me”.

At 00:22.478 a different male voice says, “Help”.

I reviewed the news piece listed above and two parts caught my attention relative to this case. The first was: 1:41 a.m.: Dispatch sent a deputy to investigate the 911 hang-up on Nicholson. I could possibly understand the first 911 operator not realizing the gravity of the situation and recording it as a hang-up. But this call did not generate the dispatch of the deputy. That could only have occurred from the second call when location data was made available. That call with the Sync 911 Assist recording clearly audible to the operator should have generated an immediate response including EMS services being dispatched.

The second part that concerned me was this:  The Sheriff’s Office said they were responding to this incident as a 911 hang-up, which according to their policies, “is not classified as an emergency call due to the frequency of unfounded cases.” They say in the past year, they received nearly 15,000 hang-ups and only 26 of those calls were actual emergencies.

While that may be their policy, the second call should never have been classified as a hang-up. It was an automatic response to an accident serious enough to deploy airbags. The operator obviously was aware of that and heard a male voice respond to him yet did not send an ambulance.  The Sync 911 Assist device has been around since 2009. Many other auto manufacturers offer similar emergency response systems when the driver cannot initiate the emergency request themselves. This is not new to the market and understanding how they work should be an essential element of 911 training.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the dispatching of a deputy for a hang-up when the urgency was very clear was the wrong response and inadequate given the knowledge conveyed in the second 911 call. There is no way to know if a proper response would have saved Mr. Whitley but it would have increased that possibility. I am also left with the question in my mind as to how many other similar mistakes have occurred and whether those mistakes cost lives.

As we stated at the outset of this series, Bazile is providing us with a very deep dive into just what all she’s uncovered since the crash which claimed her son’s life.

We’re far from done folks as we have two (2) more segments of this series.  We know you will not want to miss Segment Three of this fascinating series!