East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux’s 150-member transition team presented a 24-page report Tuesday filled with suggestions on how to better serve the public and fight crime.

“Nothing jumped out as a surprise. Many of the issues the team hit on were things that surfaced during the campaign,” Gautreaux said after Tuesday’s news conference.
Some suggestions were:

• Create an Inter-Agency Squad of top detectives and patrol officers from all law enforcement agencies in the parish.
• Replace bulletproof vests because 90 percent of the ones owned by the department have expired ratings.
• Update tax collection computer software in the civil division, and improve phone equipment and customer service in the tax office.
• Focus on work-force development for inmates and get a drug-abuse counselor in parish prison.

Gautreaux told transition team members Tuesday his department’s goal is to implement as many of the suggestions as possible. It was the first time Gautreaux and members of his department heard the findings and saw the report, compiled after 60 days of meetings by team members.

The team was made up of judges, sheriffs, ministers, teachers, business owners and elected officials. No team members work for Gautreaux.
The transition team split into committees and focused on six areas — community safety, regional law enforcement, technology, finance and administration, intergovernmental relations, and economic development.
Rannah Gray, the team’s director, said a number of common themes emerged in committee discussions, such as developing partnerships with other agencies. Other recurring themes were improving technology, addressing truancy, stopping juvenile crime, and seeking more grant money.

All six committees suggested changes at Parish Prison. Team members concluded the parish prison is: “Outdated, crowded and lacks the modern security measures needed to maintain safety for inmates, deputies and the general public.”

City-parish officials are considering whether to ask voters to approve a $55 million expansion and upgrade of the prison.
To improve community safety, transition team members suggested Gautreaux create a sheriff’s advisory board and establish a database accessible by police and judicial officials. Deputies also should receive additional training in mental health and addictive disorders, domestic violence, child abuse, DWI laws, sexual assault and housing the homeless.

The transition team also said the Sheriff’s Office have a greater presence in schools.
The regional law enforcement committee suggested enhancing training opportunities via the sheriff department’s Capitol Area Regional Training Academy. The committee also urged agencies to share inventory to make sure they all have the same resources.

The technology committee found the tax office uses four different computer software programs, none of which are compatible. Gautreaux said he knew about that problem before taking office and is working on a solution.
Gautreaux also has begun work on another problem highlighted by the committee — relocating all sheriff’s office communications to the department’s Emergency Operation Center on Harding Boulevard.

Source: The Advocate, STEVEN WARD