Bunkie Council addresses police personnel changes

After being told last month that the Police Department was fully-staffed with full-time officers, the Bunkie City Council was informed at its April 13 meeting that the department is actually two officers short of having a full staff.

The revised status report was not delivered by Police Chief Bobby Corner, but by BPD officer Velvette Williams. Corner was spotted outside the City Hall Annex prior to the meeting but did not attend. Williams, a full-time patrolman, gave statistics from Jan. 1 up until April 13.

She reported there had been 124 arrests, including 12 drug arrests. Police received 3,132 calls, but only 418 were reportable complaints with the rest being what she termed “BS calls.”

BPD officers wrote 309 traffic citations during that period.

Williams said there are six full-time patrol officers on staff, which is two short of the number needed to be fully-staffed.

The council reclassified Roderick Pickens from auxiliary patrolman to full-time patrolman. The council also hired Jeremy Sheppard and Brandon Bihm as auxiliary patrolmen. Jalisa Thomas was transferred from a full-time patrolman to auxiliary patrolmen. The city had paid the cost to send her to the police academy to be a patrolman.

Bunkie Mayor Mike Robertson reminded Williams that at least one of the full-time officers had not received certification to carry a firearm. She said any officers lacking certification would be fully certified within a week.

Councilman Travis Armand abstained from the vote. Visibly upset, Armand said one of the officers at the meeting was wearing a pistol even though he was not certified to carry a firearm.

“I have gotten complaints and compliments about the BPD officers and their work recently,” Armand said, “but, there was an officer in this meeting carrying a firearm that is not certified. I will not put Bunkie in a liability situation.”

SPEED BUMPS

In another matter, the Neighborhood Watch group from the St. Anthony area requested speed bumps be placed on Knoll Street in front of St. Anthony Catholic School.

Group spokesman Rick Rabalais called the street a “speedway.” City Attorney Jim Lee said he couldn’t speak for the council, but advised against placing speed bumps due to liability issues.

Armand suggested making Knoll Street and St. John Street three-way stops to slow down traffic. Another suggestion was to make Knoll Street a one-way street.

Louisiana Street, behind the school, is already a one-way street.

The council delayed a decision pending further study.

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