Police add new precinct

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: May 9, 2008 - Page: 1BA - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LAFAYETTE — The Police Department is splitting the city’s busiest precinct in the hopes of reducing workload to improve service.

Calls in Precinct 1 — the northeast third of the city — account for more than half of all calls in Lafayette’s three precincts, leaving officers and supervisors struggling to manage the workload, Police Chief Jim Craft said.

“It’s a daunting task,” he said.

Precinct 1 encompasses areas around the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, parts of the “saints streets,” downtown and most of the city east of Evangeline Thruway.

The plan, to be implemented this month, is to divide the precinct along Evangeline Thruway, creating a new fourth precinct in the city that takes in the area east of the thruway.

“What we hope it will do is split the workload, which will allow us to better manage calls for service,” Craft said.

The same area once overseen by one precinct captain will now be worked by more officers and managed by two captains.

“It will allow him to provide better service in a smaller area,” Craft said.

The precinct system was adopted in 2005 and includes provisions that call for strict accountability of precinct commanders for areas under their watch.

When the system was adopted, the city was sectioned into three precincts within boundaries that meshed with the districts of the City-Parish Council.

Craft said he is revisiting the decision to line up precinct boundaries with council districts.

He said it makes more sense from a policing standpoint to divide the city based on calls for service and to use major roads as boundaries.

“It’s not as effective when based on political boundaries rather than geographic boundaries,” the chief said.