Retired troopers assert LSP’s hiring of “incompetent, grossly-negligent Malachi Hull” validates Trooper Scott Lopez’s contentions of “slim pickings” available to counteract troopers “dropping like flies.”

On April 25, 2022, Louisiana State Police Trooper Scott Lopez explains to St. Martin Parish Sheriff Deputy Baily Romero just how “bad it is” at LSP with troopers “dropping like flies” while Lopez’s son, Benjamin, works diligently on his own little project.

On April 25, 2022, St. Martin Parish Sheriff Deputy Baily Romero dropped by the residence of Louisiana State Police (LSP) Trooper Scott Lopez for a friendly chat.  During that chat, with Romero’s body cam running because he was on official duty, Lopez proceeded to lampoon LSP’s existing operations to include indicating that there’s a mass exodus of troopers, that they are, “dropping like flies,” that, “nobody would want this job,” and that, “it’s so bad troopers pulling in $150,000 to $160,000 are leaving.”

Romero, for his part, said that not a single St. Martin Parish Sheriff Deputy had any interest in applying at LSP for the most recent training academy.  Romero further added, upon hearing Lopez indicate that LSP is a “revolving door” of troopers leaving and being hired, that, “Oh, yeah.  It will only go downhill from here.”

Lopez even stressed the fact that, even $80/hour – $83/hour for troopers working LACE, is not enough to keep troopers on staff with LSP because, “that’s how bad it is.”  Romero also indicated, “People don’t like change,” in reference to a new technology being deployed by LSP for crash reports (E-Crash, which Lopez stated “sucks.”)

Let’s take just a couple of minutes to sit in on the friendly little chat between Lopez and Romero of April 25, 2022 at this time:

April 25, 2022:  Lopez emphasizes to Romero just how bad it is to work at LSP now, and Romero chimes in that, “It will only go downhill from here.”

As we’ve stated, we’ve gotten tons of emails and phone calls from male white troopers both before (and even more after) we published this feature entailing white male troopers allegedly resigning in droves at LSP.  We also received an email indicating that LSP has little choice but to, “choose among slim pickings” to replace these troopers because of recruitment problems and the lack of high-caliber people willing to apply to enter the LSP Training Academy.

The fact that so many LSP Troopers were willing to assist Cadets in a years-long Training Academy cheating scandal reinforces the notion that LSP is having to resort to enrolling folk in the Academy largely incapable of learning the material and demonstrating competence on the job.  That fact, in turn has led to tons of lawsuits against LSP for which these greenhorns (Domingue, Reeves, etc.) are responsible for LSP being named defendant.

Troopers have also sent us emails expressing concern about LSP’s May 27, 2018 hiring of, “incompetent, grossly-negligent Malachi Hull,” though we want to make sure everyone knows that specific hire transpired under the leadership of disgraced former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves (whom we view as an even bigger disaster of a Colonel than Davis) rather than current LSP Col. Davis.  Nevertheless, from the preceding article:

Malachi Hull, who Mayor Mitch Landrieu sacked Friday, oversaw a Taxicab Bureau in disarray, where not only did documents go missing and bills uncollected but agency employees carried mace and handcuffs and acted like a quasi-police force.

“It’s a given the guy had to go,” said Sidney Smith, the owner of Haunted History Tours who helped lead a protest against Hull in November.

In October, investigator Ronnie Blake hit cab driver Emmanuel Esterlin doused him with pepper spray and handcuffed him. In November, investigator Wilton Joiner twisted tour guide Wendy Bosma’s arm behind her back and slammed her onto a hood of a car.

Both incidents were caught on video. Prosecutors charged Joiner with simple battery in November and Blake with aggravated battery in May. Both men were fired in April. Their attorneys dispute they used excessive force.

The run-ins started over minor offenses– Blake approached Esterlin for illegally parking on Dauphine Street in the French Quarter. Joiner confronted Bosma near the corner of Gov. Nicholls and Royal streets for apparently operating too close to another tour.

Hull, who was present when Joiner confronted Bosma, did not prevent these incidents and ignored warnings that Blake and Joiner were out of control, according to the report. Attorney Tom Shlosman recently filed civil rights lawsuits against Hull, Joiner, Blake, and the city on behalf Esterlin and Bosma.

Scores of tour guides, taxi drivers, and buggy drivers marched on City Hall on Nov. 22 to protest Hull’s continued employment and criticize the Landrieu administration’s silence over the incidents.

The IG’s report also notes that prior to the Esterlin and Bosma incidents, Hull had received several warnings about Blake and Joiner but continued to allow them operate without restraint. Kristen Morales, an IG investigator, sent Hull an Oct. 21, 2013 email requesting that he remove Joiner from the field pending an investigation. Hull admitted in his December interview with the IG that he ignored the request because his office was suffering from a shortage of personnel.

On top of Hull’s inability to control or reign in his investigators, his management of the office was also considered a failure.

Inspector General investigators sampled 500 taxi permits, discovering 80 percent had paid the incorrect amount in fees or fines. For example, one person who owned 189 CPNCs owed the city $62,370 in transfer fees. The IG investigator notified Hull multiple times about the large discrepancy, but Hull “failed to act” for 18 months.

The IG also found that most of the permit files were incomplete with important documents missing.

“OIG investigators found CPNC documents under desks, behind desks, behind file cabinets, in the storage room, in two different recycling bins, in the employee break room and misfiled,” according to the report.

In one instance, an Orleans Parish assistant district attorney couldn’t find documents needed for trial. An IG investigator found them under a taxicab bureau employee’s desk.

Hull knew about the incident but didn’t do anything to fix it, according to the report.

Anyone is welcome to read the full report by clicking here.  Because the concerns of troopers about having someone like Hull wearing a uniform, with one retired trooper going so far as to state, “the real troopers both active and retired are as disgusted with what this bunch has done to state police as anybody is. They resent the double standards and lack of accountability,” we decided to make a public records request of the Louisiana State Police Commission for all of Hull’s hiring paperwork.  Anyone is welcome to review that paperwork by clicking here.

As referenced in the article above, the city and two inspectors were sued for alleged civil rights violations under Hull’s watch.  Anyone is welcome to click here for Emmanuel Esterlin’s Federal Civil Rights suit or to click here for Wendy Bosma’s Federal Civil Rights suit.  The outcomes of those two suits were this settlement to Esterlin and this settlement to Bosma.

Meanwhile, Hull filed his own Federal Civil Rights lawsuit.  That suit was dismissed by the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana for failure to state a Cause of Action.  Hull appealed to the Fifth Circuit, and that body rendered this judgment basically saying that Hull’s attorney was too incompetent (birds of a feather?) to amend the lawsuit within the 20 days permitted by the Court or to show good cause why the attorney was unable to do that within the time frame the court granted.

As is obvious by Hull’s employment material linked above, he made no effort to hide his termination.  He simply explains it away by indicating [see page three (3)], “Wrongfully terminated by City of New Orleans after voicing concerns about public safety risks associated with unlicensed for hire picking up passengers.”  More specifically, Hull claims he was fired for speaking out against Uber.  Given how Hull operated the department in which he was tasked with heading, Uber sure sounds like a great avenue for a ride to us!

It appears Romero’s recent words of, “It will only go downhill from here,” were just as applicable four years ago as they are now if not even more so.  Add it all up, and, by our math, it totals an LSP in complete and total disarray with no signs whatsoever of improvement anytime soon!

Special credit for this feature is extended to LSP Trooper Scott Lopez and St. Martin Parish Sheriff Deputy Baily Romero for their starring roles in the above video.

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As fired LSP Trooper Cavalier presses for Nov. 10th LSPC hearing, Nakamoto, Zurik air problematic acts with LSP Troopers Chiasson, Burns, LSPC Commissioner Richardson; meanwhile, LSTA gears up for Nov. 3rd court trial to make campaign contributions.

WBRZ (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge)’s Investigative Reporter Chris Nakamoto, on October 28, 2022, airs a “terrible optics” feature in which Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis explains why LSP Trooper Robert Burns (no relation to Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns) was named the head of LSP’s new Compliance Division notwithstanding Burns’ own alleged violations of law regarding accessing LSP’s database for personal purposes entailing his ex-wife and other associates.

As October of 2022 draws to a close, Louisiana State Police (LSP) appears to be a very tattered, battered, and badly-damaged public agency.

We at Sound Off Louisiana continue to be bombarded with calls and emails from male white troopers and former male white troopers after we published this feature entailing trooper concerns of LSP Col. Davis focusing on promoting African Americans and females to their exclusion and the rapidly-mounting evidence that his actions in that regard have in fact caused a mass exodus of white male troopers from LSP which is showing no signs of abating anytime soon.

Some current and former troopers have even told us that Davis has avoided the normal practice of making a phone call to inquire why ANY trooper resigns, and they indicate that the reason for that lack of action on Davis’ part, at least when such resignations transpire with white males, is because, “he simply doesn’t care why they left.”

Meanwhile, as we reported on Sunday, October 23, fired Trooper Carl Cavalier had a Federal court hearing on Thursday, October 27.  As everyone should be aware by now, Cavalier’s attorney, Jill Craft, filed motions both with the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) and with the Federal Court to withdraw from representing Cavalier before either body.  As evidenced by the preceding link, the LSPC wasted little time granting Craft’s Motion.

The Federal Court for the Middle District of Louisiana followed LSPC’s lead when, on Thursday, October 27, 2022, it too granted Craft’s Motion to withdraw as Cavalier’s counsel as well.

That Order was filed the same day as last week’s hearing (October 27, 2022).  Additionally, the status of the $200,000 Cavalier settlement offer, which LSP is actively trying to cram down Cavalier’s throat notwithstanding Cavalier’s refusal to accept what Ronald Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin (should any such settlement be offered to his family), has characterized as, “blood money,” was also discussed during that hearing.  From the preceding Order:

Counsel for the defendant indicated that should plaintiff reject the agreed upon settlement they intend to file an appropriate motion. To the extent this motion is time sensitive, the motion should seek expedited consideration. Mr. Cavalier was advised that he would be given an opportunity to respond and that any necessary hearing would likely be set at the district judge’s discretion.

The “appropriate Motion” referenced above would be an Order to Enforce Settlement, and LSP Defense Counsel Jennie Pellegrin essentially teletyped LSP’s intent to file such a Motion as fast as possible when, yesterday (October 28, 2022), she filed this request for a transcript of the 10/27/22 hearing.

Meanwhile Cavalier indicated to us that he is pressing the LSPC to move forward with his hearing, and he even indicated that he’d asked at Thursday’s Federal Court hearing whether the Federal Court had any jurisdiction over the LSPC, and Cavalier said the response was, “No.  They are their own entity, and we can’t tell them what to do.”  Nevertheless, Cavalier states that the LSPC has indicated to him that it will not move forward until there is, “more clarity with your Federal case.”

As a condition of settlement, clearly the language in that settlement would be that Cavalier would be required to relinquish any right to work for LSP again, and that is something that he has indicated to us is, “completely unacceptable” to him.

We also know plenty of folk are likely asking why the $200,000 settlement offer was even made to Cavalier, but we suspect that may be something Attorney General Jeff Landry may be quizzed on as he pursues being Louisiana’s next Governor, and we’re certainly not going to be impolite by speculating on what response Landry may opt to provide should he be presented with that inquiry (and our money says he will be).

Obviously, it goes without saying that the next few weeks entailing LSP and Cavalier should prove quite intriguing to say the least!

Now, beyond white male trooper frustrations and Cavalier, also occurring last week were three (3) great investigative features concerning LSP.  Two (2) of those features were by WBRZ (Channel 2 in Baton Rouge)’s Investigative Reporter Chris Nakamoto, and the third was by Fox8 (New Orleans)’s Lee Zurik.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

 10/27/22:  Nakamoto quizzes LSP Col. Lamar Davis entailing LSP Trooper Justin Chiasson’s hit-and-run boating incident.

 10/28/22:  Nakamoto quizzes LSP Col. Lamar Davis on naming LSP Trooper Robert Burns (no relation to Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns) to head LSP’s new Compliance Division despite past alleged illegal acts entailing LSP’s database being used for personal purposes.


10/28/22:   Zurik covers LSPC Commissioner Richardson’s 120-day suspension for payroll time sheet irregularities.

Now, last but not least.  The long-awaited trial entailing the LSTA suing the LSPC on August 15, 2018 to enable it to make campaign contributions will transpire this upcoming week on November 3, 2022 commencing at 10:00 a.m.

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we believe this will be a full-blown dog-and-pony exercise with the conclusion being that 19th Judicial District Judge Don Johnson will direct both attorneys to draft their ideal judgments.  At some point thereafter, Johnson will sign the LSTA’s judgment, and, voila, they’ll have court authority to proceed full-bore with campaign contributions in the upcoming campaign for Governor of Louisiana! Of course, that will be subject to the LSPC appealing and how fast such an appeal may be able to be resolved.

Eight years ago, the LSTA went to great lengths to be able to make such contributions to Gov. John Bel Edwards.  Exactly what lengths?  Well, the LSTA deployed its then Executive Director, David Young, who “retired” after firing a gun outside LSTA headquarters while chasing down his daughter’s boyfriend.  Yes, the same David Young who agreed to illegally funnel campaign cash into Gov. Edwards’ campaign account (along with other politicians) by writing personal checks himself to the campaign and then being reimbursed by the LSTA for those contributions.  That’s a practice which former LSPC Member Lloyd Grafton referred to as, “straight up money laundering.”

We often wonder how all those extensive efforts to help ensure an Edwards win has worked out for the LSTA given the chaos that now exists at LSP with Edwards having appointed (our opinion here) three consecutive disasters to head the agency.

We’ll certainly remind Edwards that, on December 8, 2015 (well before he was sworn into office), we warned him that re-appointing Mike Edmonson as LSP Col. was going to blow up in his face.

Interestingly enough, another blogger reported that, upon him specifically asking Edwards during the campaign whether he (Edwards) intended to re-appoint Edmonson, Edwards responded, “I haven’t made a decision on that.”  Then, at the celebration blowout on the eve of Edwards being sworn in, Edmonson bragged to the media that Edwards told him, “I never even considered anyone for the position but you!”

That Edwards contradiction alone should have indicated what type of “leadership” Edwards, as “LA-1,” would provide for LSP, and we firmly believe Louisiana history textbooks for future middle school and high school students will reference Edwards as the most disastrous governor Louisiana has ever had when it comes to accountability and ethics at LSP!

Who knows?  Those history books may even note the irony of that fact given the all of the “Honor Code” touting Edwards did during the 2015 campaign.

At any rate, we’ll certainly attend the court hearing on Thursday and report on its outcome once that outcome is known.  After all, Sound Off Louisiana is the only media outlet we know of to reference the fact that this lawsuit even exists!

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After Legislative Black Caucus, SU President get LSP Trooper Shawn Boyd reinstated, Col. Davis promotes him (solely because he is black?) notwithstanding his problematic past.

Former LSP Col. Kevin Reeves bestows an award to then-Master Trooper (now Sergeant) Shawn Boyd on Friday, May 19, 2017, mere months before Fox8’s Lee Zurik would air an investigative feature entailing LACE abuses which included Boyd.

[Editor’s Note:  This feature had to be edited — to include the title — after, at 7:42 p.m. on the day of publication, we received a phone call from an LSP authoritative source revealing the fact that Boyd had been terminated by LSP after the initial incident of 2015 referenced in Fox 8’s Lee Zurik’s video below.]

On Thursday, October 20, 2022, Louisiana State Police (LSP) Col. Lamar Davis announced a number of promotions.

Soon thereafter, we received phone calls, emails, and texts from livid active and retired troopers about one of the promotions:  Master Trooper Shawn Boyd to Sergeant.

Boyd was caught up in the late-2017 Lee Zurik (Fox 8 in New Orleans) LACE undercover investigation by the station.  Even in that feature, Zurik revealed that Boyd had been suspended for 160 hours two years prior for not working hours he claimed to work on LACE!  Let’s take a look at highlights of the Zurik feature, particularly as it pertained to Boyd:


Highlights of the November 9, 2017 Zurik investigation on abuses of LSP’s LACE program, particularly as they related to LSP Master Trooper (Now Sergeant) Shawn Boyd.

The above video speaks for itself, so we’ll add nothing to it!

The trooper who fleeced taxpayers for the most money in Zurik’s feature was Daryl Thomas, who pulled in a cool $247,317, with nearly $148,000 of that in LACE overtime earnings.

Our longer-term subscribers and casual site visitors will recall that Thomas appeared before the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) on June 14, 2018 (against the advice of his attorney) and pleaded with the Commission not to place him on leave without pay once his annual leave (which he was placed on after using up administrative leave) was up.

That video has been commented upon by members of the public more than just about any video we’ve ever published, so let’s give former Trooper Thomas (he was eventually terminated from his employment) an encore performance, shall we?:

 LSP Trooper Daryl Thomas flatly denies committing payroll fraud and slams an investigative report by Fox8’s Lee Zurik as he pleads with the LSPC to not suspend him without pay and the LSPC’s response.

For anyone who may wish to read the 100+ comments on Thomas, feel free to click on the “Watch on YouTube” button on the lower-left of the above video.  Trust us, it won’t be pretty!

Our sources tell us that Boyd was terminated by LSP over the first incident (which Zurik references in the first video above), but that the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus and then-Southern University’s President, Ray L. Belton lobbied for Boyd to be rehired, and he was in fact rehired based on that political influence which Thomas obviously didn’t have.  Boyd has reportedly worked the Southern University football games for “years” and was working them at the time of the above controversy from what sources tell us.

The same sources tell us that, with Davis being on a minority-promoting binge, Boyd was all but assured to get the promotion to Sergeant, his problematic past and extensive discipline notwithstanding.

One retired LSP Trooper went so far as to make the following quote to us:

This is a prime example of how belonging to the right black fraternity will benefit you in Louisiana State Police today. Things like this are pure morale busters to all of the good troopers black and white but is especially demoralizing to the white troopers who are overtly being held down for no other reason than they are white. A white male does not stand a chance at LSP.

Sound Off Louisiana is in the process of composing a table of all promotions since Davis took over to examine the troopers’ claims both that Davis is:

 #1) looking no deeper than skin color or gender to promote assuming either a female and/or African American posts for the promotion and that, in so doing, he is

#2) causing a mass exodus of white male troopers from LSP. 

We will periodically include the table of promotions and resignations/retirements as we get it compiled.

One thing we can’t help being reminded of is Davis’ focus on the public being frustrated at, “police officers being treated special” in that, when a private-sector employee engages in conduct such as Boyd did, that individual is fired and he or she, “doesn’t have all these rights.”

Davis made that statement at the February 11, 2021 meeting of the LSPC, and he made it to LSPC Member Sabrina Richardson, who has herself been the focus of an extensive payroll fraud investigation by Zurik.  Let’s revisit Davis’ statement at this time:

 2/11/21 LSPC Meeting:  Richardson challenges LSP Col. Lamar Davis entailing troopers having leave restored when investigations drag on for extended periods of time.

We praised Davis for his above statement; however, given some of his recent actions, a year and a half after he made the above statements, we’re fully prepared right now to go ahead and declare Davis as one of the biggest hypocrites we’ve ever seen holding public office.  Furthermore,  we view him as nothing short of an absolute disgrace to the uniform he puts on each day!

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