Ms. Belinda Parker-Brown, speaking at the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) meeting of Thursday, December 16, 2021 openly asks the Commission, “What purpose do you serve?” Brown shares the sentiments of former LSPC Commissioner Lloyd Grafton that the LSPC should be abolished.
On December 1, 2021 Lloyd Grafton, a retired U. S. Special Agent and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, drafted this letter of very specific recommendations to the LSP Oversight Committee. His second recommendation from that letter follows:
Abolish the Louisiana State Police Commission and place the State Police under the Louisiana Civil Service Board. (Required Constitutional Amendment)
Quite a few folk were anxious to hear the Oversight Committee’s open deliberations about whether the LSPC should be continued or, as Grafton recommends, be abolished. Thus far, however, all that has transpired is a 12-second segment wherein LSP Oversight Committee Chairman Franklin Foil said, “Also, last week, Sen. Fields gave me a document from a Mr. Grafton which I’m going to share with the Committee and make it part of the record with recommendations which Mr. Grafton had for State Police.”
Just as a cartoon used to conclude, “That’s all folks!” Now, certainly Sen. Foil may opt to permit deliberations of Mr. Grafton’s proposals at a future Oversight Committee meeting, but it appears to us that Grafton’s proposals may be way, way too hot for Sen. Foil to process due to known blowback from the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association (LSTA) that would most assuredly transpire upon any such open deliberations.
In that regard, we want to present a video of just over two (2) minutes. In the brief video, Foil introduces Grafton’s letter of recommendations “into the record.” Three days later, and perhaps in a pre-emptive strike, LSTA outgoing Executive Director Mark Oxley told the LSPC how “proud” the LSTA is of the LSPC’s formation in 1990 and how “proud” the LSTA is of the LSPC’s current work.
After that point in the video, Ms. Belinda Parker-Brown openly questions what the purpose of the LSPC is and further cracks the door open to the possibility that one or more Commissioners serving on the LSPC’s current membership may be under investigation. Let’s take a look:
Sen. Foil takes a GRAND TOTAL of 12 seconds to cover Grafton’s recommendations, after which LSTA Executive Director Mark Oxley defends the LSPC, followed by Belinda Parker-Brown openly questioning why the LSPC exists and cracking the door open to the possibility that one or more of its current members may be under investigation.
We frequently receive texts from individuals monitoring the LSPC’s meetings. We received real-time texts on Thursday’s (December 16, 2021) LSPC meeting because it was held in a Louisiana Senate Committee room and was live streamed. We believe the content of one of those texts is not only spot-on but also worthy of publication, so here is the contents of the text (regarding the totality of Oxley’s presentation):
I noticed he (Oxley) didn’t reference anyone who represented the Louisiana Taxpayers on that Commission. Rather, just the Trooper and the Organization (LSTA).
We don’t believe we can sum it up any better than that! Furthermore, whether Foil is too fearful to permit open deliberations of serious LSP reforms such as those presented by Grafton or not, we can assure every member of the Louisiana Legislature that the citizens of Louisiana are completely and utterly fed up with the corruption within law enforcement in Louisiana!
Furthermore, Louisiana citizens just may be likely to take their frustrations out on lawmakers in their re-election efforts if they fail to initiate serious, meaningful reforms prior to their names appearing on ballots in 2023. Being blunt, the law enforcement operations are simply too rogue, and Louisiana State Police certainly isn’t exempt from law enforcement agencies engaging in rogue activity.
Now, perhaps Foil is going to demonstrate more serious deliberations about meaningful reforms at future meetings, but we know we speak for many in stating that we’re not encouraged by what we’ve seen so far. That fact is no better illustrated than Foil’s thus-far devotion of a grand total of 12 seconds to Grafton’s recommendations! We certainly hope (as we believe many other Louisiana citizens do as well based on the feedback we receive) to see that 12 seconds expanded significantly in a future meeting or future meetings!
CLICK HERE for the 12/16/21 LSPC meeting in its entirety.
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