Iberia sheriff says deputies to help patrol Jeanerette

• By JASON BROWNS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jul 5, 2008 - Page: 1B -- Acadiana Edition - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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JEANERETTE — Citing high crime rates and limited policing, Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal is putting two deputies in Jeanerette to help patrol the city 24-hours a day.

“They are in trouble,” Ackal said. “They need help. The crime rate is out of control.”

Ackal said the plan was hashed out with Mayor Arthur Verret and will include opening a substation in the city.

The substation will be on Main Street in what used to be the old city hall and police department.

The building will first have to be renovated before the sheriff’s office can occupy it.

In the meantime, Ackal said he already has put two deputies in the city, one for the day shift and the other for the night shift.

Two other deputies who work in that district also will be available if needed.

Ackal said there is limited police visibility in the area and that major upgrades are needed within the police department. He said he will offer his assistance in training and policing.

“They need all the help they can get,” Ackal said.

Verret said Jeanerette’s problems with drugs, robberies and burglaries is not unlike other communities.

But the steps this small city of less than 7,000 needed to take to begin addressing those problems has been documented for some time.

Three years ago an evaluation conducted by a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette cited low morale, high officer turnover and a general lack of direction within the Police Department.

“The Police Department does not have ‘a’ problem — one thing that even if serious could be directly attacked or remedied. It has a collection of problems, serious problems, that together have battered the organization to its knees,” the professor wrote in a summary of his findings.