On Friday, June 11, 2021, we received another correspondence entailing frustrations over LSP’s Air Support operations with a specific question posed of how Louisiana State Police (LSP) Col. Davis feels about a non-trooper pilot being hired in LSP’s Air Support Unit under his watch. Since we’ve gotten numerous inquiries on that topic and whether Davis intends to appeal the Louisiana State Police Commission’s reinstatement of former Lt. Sheldon Perkins, we decided the best thing to do was to reach out to Col. Davis and pose the two questions to him, and he (through Capt. Nick Manale) responded the next day to our questions via this email. As noted at the bottom of the email, Capt. Manale indicated he would call Burns the next day (today, June 17, 2021), and the following video covers what all Manale had to convey during that phone call with Burns:
Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns covers the contents of LSP Capt. Manale’s phone call to him of Thursday, June 17, 2021.
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Gov. Edwards, pictured days before then-LSP Col. Kevin Reeves “retired” in disgrace, uttering these now-infamous words: “I have complete confidence in Kevin Reeves as Superintendent of State Police.”
Everybody, and most especially Gov. Edwards himself, recognizes that, without the black vote in Louisiana, he would never have been elected Governor. In fact, even with 97%+ black support in the 2019 race for Governor, Edwards still managed only an approximate 30,000 vote margin of victory.
It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Edwards campaign did an absolutely masterful job ensuring that an arrest of Ronald Greene, in which Greene died at the hands of Louisiana State Police (LSP) troopers, was kept on the ultimate down low.
Now, with Edwards’ second and final term as Governor nearing its half-way mark, black residents across Louisiana are openly doing one of two things regarding Edwards and that Greene arrest along with numerous other instances of LSP alleged brutality entailing the arrests of young black drivers by LSP: #1) openly questioning how much Edwards knew and when he knew it (to the point that even Edwards-friendly The Advocate can no longer ignore the question), or #2) outright accusing him of playing a key role in LSP’s cover-up of the beatings after the Associated Press exposed the extent of Greene’s beating via LSP leaks of critical audio and video files to AP reporter Jim Mustian.
In light of recent developments, one cannot help but wonder if Gov. Edwards now views the most regrettable words he has ever uttered during his 5 1/2 years as Governor to be, “I have complete confidence in Kevin Reeves as Superintendent of State Police.” Edwards uttered those words mere days before Reeves would “retire” in absolute disgrace. Let’s take a look at Edwards uttering those now-infamous words:
Mere days before former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves “retired” in disgrace, Gov. Edwards voiced his strongest words of confidence in Reeves.
Perhaps nowhere has the exposure of Edwards’ actions been laid more bare than on the broadcast of the Monday, June 7, 2021 edition of Delaware-based “The Hard Talk With Jakim” show. As we mentioned on our last feature, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns was an invited guest on the show, and he, along with panelists Belinda Parker-Brown and 30-year retired Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Randolph (“Randy”) Franklin, addressed Gov. Edwards and his potential role in any cover-up of Ronald Green and other LSP arrests on the show. Let’s take a look at a few highlights:
The show’s host starts things out by showing a brief clip of Greene’s 5/10/19 arrest, followed by discussions of the political nature of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) and a lack of accountability to the people of Louisiana thereof.
A further overview of Greene’s death and the lack of availability of the video of that death is next discussed.
The panel next discusses the extent to which Edwards has avoided addressing the Greene cover-up scandal as well as other problematic LSP arrests, particularly the way Edwards avoided addressing trouble on the home front in a meeting with the Louisiana NAACP on April 19, 2021 (Edwards’ only commentary on the matter is merged into the above video).
Belinda Parker-Brown seeks for Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns to reinforce Gov. Edwards’ family’s strong law enforcement background, after which a discussion transpires about the outsized role law enforcement agencies (particularly the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association in Louisiana) play in Louisiana elections.
[Note: For some reason, the audio on the inserted clip above of Gov. Edwards’ touting his family’s law enforcement background did not work. CLICK HERE to watch (AND hear) that 10-second video clip, and we apologize for the technical difficulties.]
The panel discusses Louisiana’s Qualified Immunity for law-enforcement officers, including the fate of HB-609 of the 2021 Louisiana Legislative Session, which was an effort to dial back the immunity protection.
Gov. Jindal went from massive popularity early in his tenure as Governor to literally being despised as he exited office after focusing almost exclusively in his second term in office on an ill-advised and utterly laughable 2016 bid for President of the United States. Edwards, who has remained heavily supported by black Louisiana citizens, is now under a microscope among those black citizens regarding his handling of Ronald Greene’s arrest and similar cases of LSP brutality in Louisiana, particularly Troop F based in Monroe. That handling by Edwards may very well relegate him to the same irrelevancy that Jindal found himself relegated to once he departed from the Governor’s Mansion.
Shortly after President Biden was elected President of the United States, we at Sound Off Louisiana kept hearing recurring statements that Biden would tap Edwards to be Ambassador to the Catholic Church. While some knowledgeable folk indicated to us that those assertions were nothing more than propaganda being disseminated by staffers in the office of Lt. Gov. Billy Nunguesser, at least one major figure allegedly quietly indicated Edwards was likely to be appointed to the post. Nevertheless, judging by this recent feature touting the eight (8) contenders Biden is purportedly considering for the position, and the fact that Edwards’ name is nowhere to be found on the list, perhaps Edwards’ name has already become far too toxic for such a prestigious appointment by President Biden.
CLICK HERE for the Hard Talk With Jakim broadcast of Monday, June 7, 2021 in its entirety (Note: during the early part of the video, Burns had technical difficulties, resulting in an approximate 90-second white screen while those difficulties were addressed).
If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops). Supply your email address within the subscribe box. You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.
Belinda Parker-Brown, appearing on NOATV in New Orleans with host Andrew Rhodes, lambasts the Louisiana State Police Commission as she covers the in-custody death of Ronald Greene on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
Yesterday (June 9, 2021) was the busiest news day for Louisiana State Police in the six years we’ve actively followed the agency upon formation of this blog. Let’s itemize all the features which came out yesterday and provide a few added bread crumbs of our own:
1. Troopers Dakota DeMoss and George Harper were terminated effective Friday, June 4, 2021.
We’re going to elaborate some on this one. The night before the confirmation hearing, which was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. yesterday (Wednesday, June 9, 2021), we received multiple requests for any evidence we had that former Lt. Col. Noel’s phone had been sanitized prior to his departure. We complied with the request shortly before 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 by providing the requesting parties with this January 5, 2021 email from LSP Legal Counsel Faye Morrison in which she clearly states in writing that the phone was sanitized. From that email:
LTC Noel turned in his phone when he left LSP and at that time his phone was sanitized pursuant to policy.
Let’s just say the requesting parties were stunned beyond words that LSP (via its legal counsel) readily confirmed that Noel’s phone was “sanitized” as he departed for the Gaming Control Board. We were informed Gov. Edwards became actively involved late on the evening of Tuesday, June 8, 2021 immediately after we provided the above email to the requesting parties. The next thing we heard (via another media outlet) was that Gov. Edwards’ office indicated that Noel opted to resign rather than face what had been described as an intense grilling over the Ronald Greene incident and any role he may have played in the coverup of same.
Also, while we cannot substantiate this assertion made to us, we have been told that former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves’ LSP-issued phone was also allegedly sanitized around June of 2020 during the same timeframe that Noel’s phone was sanitized. That sanitizing was allegedly performed notwithstanding that, unlike Noel who departed at the time of the sanitizing, Reeves hung around for another three or four months.
Also, we’ve been told by one source that there is no such “LSP policy” on phone sanitization. We were perplexed at the revelation that there was because the contents of that phone constitute public record. Hence, if they can be sanitized so readily, it would seem LSP has carte blanche authority to destroy public records at its whim.
Tingle, who filed a Federal lawsuit against the Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission (ATC) seeking over $2 million for “wrongful termination” got humiliated out of Federal Court when the jury hearing his civil case took just over an hour to award him absolutely nothing.
LSP’s technology crew was key in tanking Tingle’s civil case, and LSP witness testimony proved extremely effective regarding Tingle’s low-tech attempts to “sanitize” his phone, which was comprised of his mere deleting of the damning texts. LSP had little difficulty recovering those damning texts. Hence, it would be truly ironic if any damning texts applicable for Reeves and/or Noel were conveniently “sanitized” right out of existence.
4. (New revelation by Sound Off Louisiana). LSP’s numerous problems notwithstanding, apparently the New Orleans Police Department still would like LSP’s help as we’re told LSP will participate in a detail in New Orleans from June 1, 2021 through August 31, 2021 in what is described as, “high-visibility, proactive patrols in areas known to be plagued with criminal activity.”
5. (New revelation by Sound Off Louisiana). Several LSP sources have informed us that LSP’s upper brass is not pleased at all with the upcoming release of a book entitled, “Nigger with a badge.” We have already pre-ordered a copy. Sources tell us that LSP is suspicious that an active trooper wrote the book and that LSP is “going after him” as a result. We’ll certainly report on the book’s contents upon our own reading of it.
6. (New feature by Sound Off Louisiana). Belinda Parker-Brown had every intention of having a “caravan” of folk to address today’s meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC). Late Tuesday night, however, she uncovered the fact that the meeting had been canceled. To say that Parker-Brown was not happy would be a huge understatement! In fact, she showed up at a New Orleans television station to vent her frustration at the LSPC as she covered the Ronald Green LSP in-custody death, and we attended the studio filming of her interview, which we present at this time:
Belinda Parker-Brown appears on NOATV in New Orleans to be interviewed by Reality Check’s Andrew Rhodes. Brown vents her frustration at the LSPC as she discusses the LSP in-custody death of Ronald Greene.
Well, that about catches up all that we’re aware of at LSP, and we think everyone will agree that’s quite a bit of material to digest.
We will point out, however, that Parker-Brown, along with retired 30-year Los Angeles Police Sergeant Randy Franklin, along with Sound Off Louisiana‘s Robert Burns were the invited guests for a live feature hosted by an out-of-state broadcaster on Monday, June 7, 2021. We’ll have our own feature on that broadcast out on either Monday, June 14, 2021 or Tuesday, June 15, 2021, and we think you’ll find it very, very informative and worth the watch!
If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops). Supply your email address within the subscribe box. You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.
