Sound Off Louisiana

Edwin Neill, III at the August 2, 2021 meeting of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology.

Our subscribers will recall our May 9, 2021 feature entailing Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) Chairman Edwin Neill’s covert efforts to try to cram another 250 hours of schoolwork down students’ throats to obtain an “advanced esthetician” designation.  The feature showed three practicing estheticians who showed up at the Cosmetology Board meeting of that month and openly stated their opposition to the measure.

At that point, the measure had sailed through the Louisiana House of Representatives (without a single “no” vote); however, when the bill reached the Senate, it died on the vine without even getting so much as a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.  The author of the bill pulled it.

We knew that LSBC Chairman Edwin Neill, III would not be pleased with that development, but even we underestimated the level of his wrath and anger which clearly built up entailing Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns.  At the August 2, 2021 LSBC meeting, however, Neill’s wrath was on full display, particularly after the meeting when Neill openly pushed Burns in front of about 20 witnesses and, when Burns responded with, “You better back off!,” Neill (who is an attorney) upon getting right in Burns’ face (both masked), then inquired, “What are you going to do about it?”

What prompted such a hostile exchange on Neill’s part?  Well, at 9:40 a.m., as evidenced by the following screen shot of Burns phone, his dental office called to confirm his appointment for Wednesday, August 4, 2021.  Here’s the screenshot:

Believing that the incoming call would be as most doctor offices are now and be automated to just confirm the appointment, Burns slid the bar to accept the call in anticipation of merely hitting a couple of keys to confirm the appointment.  Instead, it turned out to be a live person to confirm the appointment, and Burns whispered (video file to be provided shortly) to confirm the appointment.

Neill absolutely exploded in anger and slammed the gavel down so hard it’s a miracle it wasn’t broken.  He further demanded that the phone call “be taken outside.”  The phone call was over with and the appointment confirmed before Burns could even make it fully out of the meeting room, but before exiting, he let it be known that Neill said absolutely nothing as fellow Board Member James Williams’ phone rang (not a vibrate which nobody heard as was the case for Burns’ call), not once, not twice, but three times!  We’re not talking about three rings for one call.  We’re talking about three separate calls, with Williams’ phone ringing aloud each time.

Here’s a two-minute video clip of the three phone calls Williams received and Neill’s nuclear reaction to Burns trying to merely confirm a dental appointment which he thought would be an automated process but instead got a live voice:

Two-minute video of LSBC meeting of 8/2/21 highlighting Board Member James Williams’ THREE ringing phone calls and when they occurred and Burns’ one silent phone call and him whispering to confirm a doctor’s appointment and Chairman Edwin Neill’s beyond-the-pale nuclear reaction to Burns taking the call.

Given Neill’s incredibly hostile reaction above (without even giving Burns the chance to exit the room), does anyone doubt his anger directed at Burns after the meeting?  We would hope not.  After the meeting, Burns drafted this email to LSBC Attorney Sheri Morris (with Gov. Edwards’ Office copied).  We hope nobody has a heart attack over the complimentary words in the email entailing Larry Bankston.  We promise, Burns is indeed the author of the email!

We guess the next LSBC meeting ought to be interesting, huh?

CLICK HERE for the August 2, 2021 LSBC meeting in its entirety.

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Louisiana State Police Col. Lamar Davis, who came under sharp attack from an attorney representing LSP Trooper William R. “Roddy” Woodward at the July 8, 2021 meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission.

On March 24, 2021, Louisiana State Police (LSP) Trooper William R. “Roddy” Woodward III, a trooper assigned to Troop F, arrested a suspected DWI driver.  Woodward was subsequently notified by LSP that he was the subject of an investigation for alleged violations of “LSP and/or DPS policies and procedures.”

At the July 8, 2021 meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), attorney Michael DuBos (the same attorney who successfully obtained a Temporary Restraining Order blocking LSP’s investigation of other Troop F troopers for alleged excessive force during arrests) absolutely lambasted Col. Lamar Davis and his administration for, according to DuBos, “failing to provide the factual allegations of alleged wrongdoing” on Woodward’s part.  He openly stated, entailing Davis and his administration:  “It’s a habit of this administration!”

DuBos sought the factual allegations in order that his client, Woodward, could be better prepared for an interview being conducted by LSP’s Internal Affairs Division concerning the DWI arrest.  DuBos stated at the meeting that, when he requested the specifics of the factual allegations, the response he got back from Davis’ administration was that, “You’ve got all you’re going to get!”

Because the arguments DuBos poses go straight to the heart of LSP competency (or lack thereof), we believe his arguments are worth listening to in their entirety, so here they are:

DuBos slams Col. Davis and his administration entailing an alleged “habit” of not providing factual allegations when an LSP trooper is accused of wrongdoing.

Now, Davis was defended by three individuals:  himself, LSPC Member Sabrina Richardson, and LSPC Trooper Member Robert Mire.  Richardson began the defense and, in our view, was floundering so badly  that Col. Davis felt compelled to step up and take over.  Perhaps Richardson may be preoccupied with trying to replace supplemental income if she may not yet have fully recovered financially from a 2015  ban from New Orleans Police Special Events details.  From that article:

Our investigative report found that Sgt. Walter Powers, Jr., Sgt. Sabrina Richardson and Officer Christopher Avist were among just a dozen officers who together earned a third of the $306,000 that officers working those special events earned over a six-month period.

“This is another case that points to why the secondary employment issue was so central to the consent decree because of the potential for abuse as well as corruption,” said Dr. George Capowich.

In Davis’ defense of himself and his administration, he seemed to be of the impression that troopers accused of wrongdoing, “have access to body-worn cameras,” and the ability to talk with superiors at their troops.  Interestingly, DuBos flatly stated that, while Davis may not be aware of it, Trooper Woodward was specifically “blocked” from having access to his body-worn camera prior to being questioned by Internal Affairs.  DuBos also openly questioned the appropriateness of talking about the investigation with fellow troopers (to include superiors at his/her troop) because of the confidential nature of Internal Affairs investigations.

If the statement by DuBos regarding Woodward being “blocked” from accessing his own body-worn camera is true (and not a soul in the room said anything to contradict his statement), then it would be an indication that Davis is clueless regarding much of the daily operations at LSP and also that key underlings have him on a “needs to know basis,” which is something WBRZ investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto told Davis just may be a problem if Doug Cain served as Chief of Staff, at least according to Nakamoto’s sources.

We have further evidence that Davis is either being kept in the dark regarding names submitted for promotions who have problematic pasts, or else he knows about the problematic pasts and is nevertheless approving the promotions.  We’ll be exposing some of these promotions in future posts.

The bottom line is that Davis is a bigger lame duck than Gov. Edwards because the next Louisiana Governor is most assuredly going to name his or her own choice for LSP Colonel.

There can be little doubt that behind-the-scenes jockeying to be the next LSP Col. under the next governor is now and has been transpiring for quite some time.  We have little doubt Cain is a big factor in that jockeying, and perhaps Cain has made some of the recommendations he has made for promotions to appease the “old guard” and help solidify his standing for being named as the official LSP Colonel.  As we’ve reported previously, Cain, as Chief of Staff, is essentially LSP Colonel now as numerous troopers have told us that the actual LSP Colonel is merely the public face of LSP and that the Chief of Staff really runs the whole show.

At any rate, for Davis to make the public statement that troopers accused of wrongdoing have ready access to their body-worn camera footage and then be immediately countered by DuBos that Woodward was “blocked” from such access is a monumental embarrassment for Davis irrespective of the factors in play that caused him to be so out-of-touch with the operations of his own agency!

Being blunt, in our opinion, LSPC Member/Trooper Robert Mire’s defense of Davis was even weaker than Richardson’s.  Subscribers can hear what he had to say as we present the audio file shortly.

Only LSPC Member Brian Crawford, who has extensive experience entailing allegations of wrongdoing in his prior role with the Shreveport Fire Department, seemed to grasp just how absurd it is to accuse a trooper of wrongdoing and then leave him or her to guess what the heck he or she allegedly did wrong!

Crawford drove that point home very effectively, only to then be accused by Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., of, “getting way into the facts.”  Crawford, who rarely (if ever) has even a modest counter-statement directed at Simien, took the opportunity to remind Simien that he sought no “facts” whatsoever but merely sought to find out from Davis’ administration if they spelled out the factual allegations of wrongdoing in the letter to Woodward and, if not, why they failed to do so.

Here’s the audio file of the incredibly weak defenses offered up for Davis and his administration by Davis himself, Richardson, and Mire, and Crawford’s questioning of why any factual allegations were not present in the letter to Woodward if they in fact were not:

Richardson, Davis, and Mire attempt to defend the letter to Woodward, while Crawford openly questions why factual allegations of alleged wrongdoing may have been omitted from the letter.

We will give credit to Richardson for one thing.  She asked LSP lawyers how the alleged wrongdoing on Woodward’s part came to light.  LSP’s response:  “Not through a public complaint but through an audit.”

We find LSP’s response very interesting, especially given that Woodward has requested that LSP, “cease and desist from retaliation against me…and treat me fairly without prejudice.”

We’ll report far more detail regarding why Woodward made the statement he made in the preceding paragraph as we publish the third installment of the LSPC meeting of July 8, 2021.

Regarding the present matter, DuBos sought for the charges against Woodward to be summarily dismissed based on the alleged inadequacy of LSP’s letter to him entailing an absence of factual allegations.  The LSPC voted unanimously to deny Woodward’s motion for his charges to be summarily dismissed, and the matter is set for hearing at the August 12, 2021 LSPC meeting.  We’ll certainly be there with our video camera to record that hearing.

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Former LSP Lt. Sheldon Perkins.

As we mentioned in our last post, the impending passing of Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns’ mother caused all matters being pursued by Burns to be placed on hold until Sunday (July 25, 2021)’s post entailing Burns’ mother’s passing.

One of the more crucial matters missed by Burns was his ability to attend the July 8, 2021 meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), which transpired the day prior to Burns’ mother’s passing.  Nevertheless, Burns last week requested and obtained an audio file of that meeting.  It was quite a meeting, and there will be several Sound Off Louisiana posts entailing the meeting’s contents, the first of which is today.

Subscribers will recall our coverage of the LSPC’s May 13, 2021 overturning of LSP Col. Lamar Davis’ upholding of former Col. Reeves’ termination of former Lt. Sheldon Perkins.  Perkins was terminated for a DWI arrest in which he engaged in numerous acts which we won’t elaborate upon.

We’re not elaborating because we will soon present the entire 56-minute video which LSP Attorney Michele Giroir intended to present to the LSPC in calling for Perkins’ termination to be upheld.  She was only able to present 22 minutes of that video, however, because LSPC Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., in our firm opinion was nothing short of a de facto defense attorney for Perkins (and self-appointed judge over the proceedings).

Simien openly advocated the LSPC viewing none of the video and, were it not for LSPC Member Leonard Knapp, Jr., meekly raising his hand and stating that he’d like to view the segment Giroir ended up presenting to the LSPC (just prior to the body voting to enter executive session), Simien’s obvious efforts to keep the damning evidence out of view of the very jury on which he served would have succeeded!

As a result of the efforts to block the video’s introduction by Simien and the fact that only 22 minutes of the 56-minute video was presented, we made a public records request for that video, and yesterday (July 27, 2021), we obtained the video from LSP.

First, however, at the July 8, 2021 LSPC meeting, the LSPC “clarified” aspects of Perkins’ reinstatement to LSP.  Specifically, at the request of LSP, the Commission clarified just how much back pay Perkins would be entitled to receive.  The bottom line is that the LSPC, perhaps feeling more than a little heat from the disdain felt by members of the public and especially by current and retired troopers entailing its reinstatement of Perkins, disallowed 498 (calendar) days (approximately 356 working days) of back pay during which Perkins had stayed the investigation of him in order to permit criminal proceedings (pre-trial intervention) to be completed.

Perkins wasn’t exactly fond of LSP’s request nor of the potential for the LSPC to bend to LSP’s request.  Perkins voiced his frustration over the 498/356 days of back pay not being granted to him in stating that, “to do anything differently would be to go against what that decision was!”  He then emphatically stated that, by not granting his back pay, his 720-hour suspension would, “really go beyond the 720-hour suspension.”

Since 720 hours is the equivalent of 90 work days, apparently Perkins has a mindset that he’s being “cheated” out of 266 (356 – 90) days of pay.  He makes such an implicit argument notwithstanding the fact that he admits he needed the delay due to pending criminal charges against him.

His implicit statement that he is somehow entitled to that back pay sure makes us reflect back to the time Col. Davis uttered the words that “the public is getting the perception that police offices are being treated special.”   Let’s take a look (listen) to the LSPC’s discussion of the back pay issue at this time:

 
7/8/21:  LSPC clarifies its ruling on Sheldon Perkins of May 13, 2021, particularly as it pertains to back pay associated with his reinstatement.

Now, we are about to present the 56-minute video of Perkins’ arrest which Giroir wanted the LSPC to view.

The video speaks for itself, so we’re going to say very little on it.  We will point out, however, that, in the first 18 minutes of the video, Trooper Jackson endures considerable consternation over how to proceed.

He calls his Sergeant, who advises him to, “Handle the matter as you see fit.”  He then calls his Lieutenant, who indicates, “I can’t advise you.”

What little we will say is this:  Perkins’ conduct on the video below is absolutely inexcusable, as is, in our firm opinion (and that of MANY current and retired troopers and the public at large) the LSPC’s decision to reinstate him.

Here’s the 56-minute video Giroir attempted to present to the LSPC:

Full 56-minute video of LSP’s arrest of LSP Lt. Sheldon Perkins which LSP attorney Michele Giroir attempted to show the LSPC as evidence at Perkins’ appeal hearing of May 13, 2021.

Our sources have told us that, as of Tuesday, July 20, 2021, the final Findings of Fact of the LSPC’s May 13, 2021 decision was in the process of being signed off on.  Accordingly, the 30-day clock for Col. Davis’ timeframe for appealing the LSPC’s decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeals has almost certainly now started to run.

As we have stated before, we believe both Davis’ and LSP’s credibility lie in the balance of his Perkins appeal decision.  We’ll see if he meant what he said when he stated the public could, “Rest assured.  We’re out here doing the right thing!”  We will most certainly report on Davis’ decision irrespective of what it ultimately turns out to be.

We’ll also have another installment of that July 8, 2021 LSPC meeting out in coming days.

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.