SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2016 A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF JENNINGS

SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2016 A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF JENNINGS DAILY NEWS
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Public perception of law enforcement is largely
based on what is seen and heard in the media but the truth is, the media is not always able to tell the ugly truth we witness while constantly working with law enforcement on various matters.
Seldom does the media delve into what law enforcement officers endure due to their profes- sion: unfair criticism based on faulty or incomplete information; emotional stress from seeing violent or despairing situations; feelings of defeat when hard work does not keep a criminal behind bars; exhaustion from working multiple jobs because law enforcement positions seldom pay necessary bills; and so much more that people simply do not realize or understand.
Our law enforcement officers have to look into the eyes
of small children and listen as they share details of being sexu- ally abused by an adult. They see how far people are willing to go to feed addictions. They see what happens behind the closed doors of homes where oth- ers think the perfect family lives. They know the truth about the lack of support they receive from some officials who otherwise proclaim to back officers 100 percent.
Often in America, we talk with such compassion about combat veterans who have returned from far away lands with mental and emotional wounds because of the things they have witnessed.
Law enforcement sees much of the same but on a daily basis and for many, those days turn
into years on the job. While law enforce-
ment officers are certainly cut from a special cloth, we must remember that first and foremost, these men and women are human beings just like the public they serve and protect. They have parents, grandparents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews they love
and who love them. They enjoy keeping dogs, cats, horses, live- stock and other creatures. They enjoy grabbing a sno-cone on a hot summer day or a simmering bowl of gumbo on a cold winter’s
night. They cheer on their favorite high school teams and dance in their living rooms when there’s a touchdown on a Sunday NFL game or a slam-dunk during the NBA playoffs. They fish, hunt, create art, attend church, help their neighbors, laugh over cof- fee with their best friends and enjoy naps on rainy days.
These people are just like the citizens in their communities.
If we want dedicated, profes- sional law enforcement officers to continue protecting and bet- tering our communities then we must stand by them. We must let them know their efforts are appreciated and that at the end of the day, their community wants them safe.
One way individuals in Jeff Davis Parish can support local
“We have an incredible warrior class in this country - people in law enforcement, intelligence - and I thank God every night we have them standing fast to protect us from the tremendous amount of evil that exists in the world.”
~ Brad Thor
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The recent shooting of law enforcement officers in the US, especially in the states of Louisiana and Texas, has brought about an increased awareness and intensified concern to local law enforcement agencies. Jeff Davis Parish (JDP) agencies have included additional precaution in their daily routines. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies, as well as their families, are feeling the renewed cold reality of the
job as it hits too close to home. Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office (JDSO) Commander Bill
Kettler said recent events have had underlying effects on the entire blue family.
“As with anything as horrific as the loss of multiple officers, it brings with it heightened concerns and a heightened sense of awareness,” he said. “I think one of the most heartbreaking aspects about the deaths of these officers is how senselessly they were killed, for no other reason than they were police officers. Now these families are left without
a father, husband, son or brother. And for what? Because someone doesn’t like cops? It’s our objective to serve and protect the public and sometimes that means enforcing the law. The less law and order we stand for, the more crime we have. We don’t have the option to just stay home and out of danger.”
Kettler said although he understands the frustration much of the public may feel regarding the misconduct of
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An officer’s word used to be his bond; that’s how Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office (JDSO) Commander of Special Forces Bill Kettler put it.
The gap between police officers and citizens has never been as wide as it is currently, with tensions boiling over across the country, prompting riots, protests and violent outbursts.
Kettler, who has served the JDSO for four years but boasts a 28-year law enforcement career, said an officer’s ability to conduct his job has been eroded by decreased trust in law officials from their community, coupled with technological advancements.
“The face of law enforcement has changed drastically in the last 20 years. Our society is trained to believe if you don’t have a video to back up a claim, then there is no proof it happened,” said Kettler. “A good solid law officer’s word
used to mean something. His word was his bond. In every facet of our society, we’re surrounded by cameras watching our every move.”
The work of law enforcement has come under scrutiny in recent weeks following the officer-involved shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castille in Minnesota, prompting demonstrations and calls to action across the United States aimed at increasing police officer accountability. One trend arising from these demonstrations has been cell-phone videoing police officers conducting routine traffic stops or setting up situations and film- ing police responses.
“If you do the job the way you’re supposed to and everyone wants to film you, let them,” said Jennings Police Department Sgt. Ricky Benoit. “I think the bigger problem is officers get dis- tracted or concerned by the presence of a camera. It shouldn’t be a problem. You should have the same integrity
when the camera isn’t around that you do when the camera is looking.”
Public response to the officer- involved shooting deaths has been both volatile and deadly, with mass shootings against police in both Dallas and Baton Rouge, leaving a combined total of eight officers dead.
Benoit has also been on the end of retaliation against the police. In June 2014, George Lowdins shot Benoit in the neck while Benoit was responding to a domestic dispute call at Lowdins’ residence. Lowdins received 40 years behind bars for the incident, which left Benoit nearly paralyzed and still in physical therapy to this day.
“I remember thinking ‘Oh, God, please don’t let me die like this,’” recalled Benoit. “Those moments are like taking a Polaroid in my mind. It’s a surreal experience. God is so great; I could have easily died that night, but He let me hang around.”
Merrion “Steve” Taylor, a retired
Jennings police chief with over 35 years of experience, said the violence toward officers is not a new phenomena, but the outlet has evolved in a scary direction.
“The aggression has always been there; it’s the violence that has esca- lated,” Taylor said. “I walked a beat by myself for years and there were times I got punched, struck and threatened with a knife. There have always been fights, but the seriousness of the aggression has grown almost military. It’s scary.”
Louisiana State Police Sgt. James Anderson said the attacks have prompt- ed a new direction in officer training and mark a swift turn in police/community relations.
“The biggest difference I’ve noticed from a police perspective is a marked increase in active shooter situations,” said Anderson. “We’ve had an emphasis
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last several years. We are better trained and better equipped than we were 20 years ago to address these types of threats. Last year Trooper Steven Vincent lost his life after being shot in Calcasieu Parish. Now we are mourn- ing the loss of two Baton Rouge police officers as well as an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy. Twenty years ago, deadly attacks on law enforcement officers were not as common.”
Taylor said the “moral decline” per- vading society is more to blame for the ill feelings toward law enforcement.
“Because law enforcement is more in the limelight because of what we do, I think we have been held to a higher standard,” he said. “We’re the ones slapping people on the wrist, writing the tickets and taking people to jail. I think this idea of a ‘model’ cop needs to stop. People come into law enforcement these days saying they want to be a model officer. No, they don’t. They should want to be the standard, because a model is just a cheap imitation of the standard, and that idea has been lost.”
Benoit is a second-generation police officer, following in the footsteps of his father Calvin.
“Forty to 50 years ago, police officers were the standard,” said Benoit. “Everybody wanted to be one. An officer’s word was his bond. If he had
to go to court, his word basically was supreme. Now, we’ve fallen out of favor. We see the values of ‘Generation X’ evolving. It’s an all-for-me thing now.”
Taylor said social media and community trends have also eroded an officer’s ability to conduct work in neigh- borhoods or towns, with a “stay silent” attitude becoming the norm and being perpetuated among community members.
“It comes back to a lack of morality, I think,” he said. “You have individuals with these attitudes like ‘I don’t have to help you,’ ‘You’re not going to make me help you,’ ‘What’s in it for me if I help you?’ That makes it very difficult to work effectively.”
As to where society can go for answers to bridging the gap between citizens and the officers charged with policing them, Benoit said it must start from within the society itself.
“The community as a whole has to stop this violence or hatred aimed at police officers,” Benoit said. “As an officer, it’s either the community sup- ports you or they don’t. Luckily we’re in an area that’s very pro-police and very positive. The community has the power. The people as a whole can either perpetuate or stop this. It’s going to take the community to say, ‘No, we won’t accept this.’ That’s how you heal and stop this.”
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Behind every defender of the thin blue line stands countless family and friends.
Although law enforcement officers (LEOs) willingly and knowingly walk into the fray of the fight and the darkness of the unknown, their loved ones must accept the life that comes with loving these heroes.
The recent shooting deaths of police officers in the U.S.,
and especially those in Baton Rouge and Dallas, have been a wake-up call for those loved ones behind the watchers of the community. For them, every moment they walk out of the door to begin their shift could be their last.
Taddy Doucet is married to Welsh Police Department (WPD) Ptn. Matt Doucet. She said living with a police officer requires a degree of adjustment.
“I always know when he’s had a bad day,” she said. “He’s quiet, restless, curt and not chatty. Minor things get on his nerves and we know he needs some peace.”
Taddy said when her husband has had a rough day at work, she knows she has to put her own emotions aside and give him space to decompress. She learned that trying to force him to open up only made him close off even more.
“He doesn’t talk to me about a lot of what’s on his mind,” she said. “I know often he doesn’t want to, and most of the time, he just can’t. If he doesn’t want to talk about things, I don’t pry. Sometimes I can guess, but that’s about all I can do.”
When Doucet does open up to his wife, she’s able to get some insight on what he’s dealing with and somewhat understand when he needs space or a little extra patience.
“In the evening when he comes home and finally relaxes, I’ll go sit by him on the couch and talk about other things,” she said. “It helps to get his mind off of the things that are bothering him from work.”
She said one of the hardest parts of being married to a police officer is that his “cop personality,” as she called it, never turns off.
“He’s always in cop mode,” she said. “It never turns off and I had to learn to adjust to that.”
Sometimes she does see a glimpse of the man he was before he began a life in law enforcement.
“He’s still that man but because his job requires him to always be on guard, it’s not often visible,” she said. “When dealing with the worst situations in society, he’s had to adjust the way he functions. Sometimes it can be difficult to deal with but after a lot of patience and understanding, I’ve gotten used to it. I try not to, but I always worry about him. It never goes away.”
Ky’a Fontenot is engaged to Jennings Police
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a small percentage of law enforcement officers, to judge and blame all on the actions of a few is unfair.
“If you have a dishonest bank teller, you don’t shut down all banks, you correct the problem,” he said. “We as law enforcement uphold a standard which we must meet, and we hold our own accountable if they violate that standard.”
Despite the myth that law enforcement officers want to use deadly force, Kettler said that’s the last thing an officer wants to do.
“The goal of any officer is to have a successful career, and a successful career includes never having to resort to the use of deadly force on the job,” he said. “One of the things we train so hard at is to exercise every other option and avoid the harshest forms of submission. Unfortunately, if an officer is also faced with a situation where not using deadly force will be detrimental to his or her own survival, we have to make split-second, life-or-death decisions. No matter what the outcome of any encounter, we will always wonder if we should have done something different.”
Despite the latest tragedies seen on the news throughout the nation, the local community has shown an outpouring of support to all local agencies. He said several deputies have also stepped forward, volunteering to provide an increase in security to the parish.
“Everyone does what is necessary,” said Kettler. “They have been volunteering for
extra shifts to ensure there are enough officers on patrol in the event there is an emer- gency, and also to deploy additional officers where needed. It’s times like this when you really realize what law enforcement and first responders are made of.”
Kettler said even with the support of the community and the strength of the agency, deputies know there is always a possibility something unexpected can happen.
“No matter how well we know our area, unknown factors such as travelers from the interstate coming in from out of town can cause unexpected dangers,” he said. “We can prepare for anything, but we can only prepare so much against the unknown.”
Sgt. Chris Aguillard and Cpl. Blake Bergeaux of the Jennings Police Department (JPD) shared what it’s like to transition from the day-to-day responsibilities of being a public servant to personal and family life.
With over 15 years of experience in law enforcement and almost five of those years with JPD, Aguillard said he never knows what each day or call will hold.
“You have to consider what any person, no matter if it’s a victim, a suspect or even an individual in a traffic stop, is going through on any given day or at any given moment,” he said. “Every person we encounter on a call is a reason we must be on alert. We don’t know what we’re walking into. Even if we are in a place we’ve been through many times with people we know, have spoken to or dealt with before, any moment could
be different from the last and have different circumstances. Often we arrive on scene and have to rely on bits and pieces of information the caller has given the dispatcher. It’s not uncommon to have to fill in the gaps on-scene to resolve the situation.”
Aguillard said a lot of what is seen on the news on television, heard on the radio or seen on the Internet isn’t necessarily hap- pening in Jennings.
“For the most part, the people in Jennings are taking it well,” he said. “From what I’ve gathered so far, the people here have been completely supportive of our officers. Even those who might not consider us their favorite people or are not fans of law enforcement are generally respectful. We haven’t had any encounters related to what’s going on in other parts of the country.”
But he knows just because there has not been any violent attacks locally, that does not mean he doesn’t fear the possibility.
“I do have concerns it might come here,” said Aguillard. “Especially with I-10 right there. The people traveling on the interstate aren’t our local people. Travelers from all over are coming through here and we could have an extremist with a goal to hurt or kill people, mainly cops, stop right here in our backyard. We just don’t know.”
Life as a public servant also means having to protect himself from the harshness of the world around him.
“You have to build up a shell and sometimes you feel like you lose who you used to be,” he said. “It alters every aspect of
your life. It becomes hard to trust anyone in any situation, even in my personal life. Sometimes it’s even difficult to make the transition from being on the job to being a family man. You have to learn to shut off the cop in you to be able to have personal relationships. A lot of people don’t realize it weighs on you even on your personal time. You never stop thinking about it and it’s always with you.”
After 15 years, though, Aguillard said he has learned how to handle that balance on his own.
“As soon as I get home, I go into ‘play- mode’ with my kids,” he said. “My son helps me take off my boots and he puts them where they belong. This is our routine after I come home. Then we play horse-back on the carpet. When I go home, I had to learn not to shut my family out and isolate myself. They don’t deserve that.”
More than anything, he wishes the public would remember they are humans, too.
“We have a lot of emotions going through us the same way they do,” he said. “We’d like them to understand where we are coming from as much as we try to understand where they are coming from. Just because we have a job to do doesn’t mean we don’t care.”
With eight years experience in law enforcement, six of those with JPD, Bergeaux said his mindset has changed and matured from earlier years in his career.
“I used to think more about what justice I felt should be delivered,” he said. “As I’ve
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With tensions running high between police agencies and the communities they service, Jeff Davis Parish city departments and the JDP Sheriff’s Office examined the relationship their independent agencies share when called to lend a hand.
“As a collective parish, it is integral that we as various agencies come together and assist each other when it’s necessary,” said Jennings Police Chief Todd D’Albor. “We’ve all done things to help, whether it be working at large events together, dealing with man power issues or what have you. We want the most highly trained officers available, because we as agencies and officers and chiefs all have one common goal – provide the highest level of safety to our communi-
ties and the parish as a whole.” Local agencies partner up for
crowd control at large events, provide units when there are manpower deficiencies in a town, or serve as a first-responder to a crime scene or vehicle accident when there are no local units in an area.
Elton Police Chief Bruce Lemelle said the EPD has a long- standing partnership with not just the inner-parish agencies, but also the Coushatta Tribal Police to boost the police presence in Elton.
“It’s a great thing being to call on one another, because it shows the citizens we’re not the only agency they can rely on,” said Lemelle. “When the community sees a greater police presence, they feel more safe.“
Lemelle added in light of the recent tragedies in Baton Rouge, where seven police officers were
shot and three fatally wound- ed, and Dallas, where five were killed, community members have begun reaching out to the department.
“We have people come bring us food or just stop us and tell us how much they appreciate us,” Lemelle said. ‘I had a lady stop me and ask me to get out of my car just so she could pray with me. These times are tough, but it’s going to get better. People can count on the police to be there no matter what. We’re going to be here to protect and serve you.”
Welsh Police Chief Marcus Crochet explained the mass shootings of officers has placed the various departments on high alert in being proactive in provid- ing officer safety.
“Since the incidents that have taken place in Baton Rouge and
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grown in experience and matured in my career, I now think more about what’s fair. I find myself considering more where the victim or even the suspect might be coming from in their lives. I’ve learned that if you just talk to a subject with respect and courtesy, not only will you obtain much more cooperation from them, but you’ll also learn to have compassion for them as human beings. Most of the time, they are just people in a bad place.”
And he knows his community is not immune to the tragedies of the world.
“Ever since this began, for the most part, everyone is very cooperative and they haven’t been testing us. Occasionally they do, but that’s not typical,” he said. “I’m not out here to harass anyone, I’m just trying to do my job, but do I worry about those types of incidents coming here. Of course I do. It could happen anywhere, but I’m not going to sit here and worry about it. I can’t put a lot of ‘what ifs’ in my mind.”
Despite his concerns, he never feels the need to withdraw from the job. As a matter of fact, he said it encourages him to work harder.
“That’s not going to stop me from doing my job or being fair,” he said. “I’m still going to go out there and I’m going to treat all people the same way. From the beginning of my career here in Jennings to where I am now, I see how every aspect of respect from the community has changed, and it’s all based on the way we treat people.”
He understands how it might be easy for some officers to feel angry when dealing with some of the most difficult and aggressive encounters on the street, but the ability to maintain self-control is largely based on an officer’s emotional strength.
“You have to keep your mind set on what you’re supposed to be and you have to be strong,” he said. “We are human and a lot of what we see and deal with can be very difficult. You have to make sure you are fair and the victim receives the justice they deserve, even if that victim is society as a whole rather than just one person. Our ultimate goal is to keep the public safe, and that’s what we do.”
Bergeaux said mental strength is also
what helps an officer maintain a strong ethi- cal and moral fiber.
“There are so many ways to be unethical, but you have to be mentally tough,” he said. “You have to have strong morals and make honest decisions. To most of the law enforcement population, unethical cops are more frustrating than difficult suspects. Unethical cops give the rest of us who are trying to serve and protect honestly a bad reputation.”
He said the introduction of body cameras has been a law enforcement officer’s best line of defense when dealing with the public.
“They don’t just protect the public, they also protect me,” he said. “Now we have
a tool on us at all times and it doesn’t lie. Being accused of something you know you didn’t do is very stressful, and that stress will make you second guess yourself, even if you know you are innocent. I wear my camera for every call because it protects me.”
Like Aguillard, Bergeaux said it’s difficult to switch gears when he gets home.
“When I go home, I’m still focused on the job and it’s hard to turn that off,” he said. “When I’m working narcotics, I never know when I’m going to get a call to go into work. I’m always on the job and I can’t refuse to respond. When I’m needed, I just want to make things flow the way they need to flow. I need to be available to protect the city, as well as my guys who are depending on me.”
Welsh Police Department (WPD) Ptn. Matt Doucet has a decade of experience in law enforcement, with four of those years served in Welsh. He said no matter how many times he might get a call for the same type of incident at the same location or with the same people, every call is still different.
“You might know the people, you might have been to that residence several times and you might know what to expect, but at the same time, you have to be ready for the most dangerous situation at any time,” he said. “Even if I go to a house where the occupants and I get along and I know I can defuse the situation and get a subject to cooperate, I still have to think about the worst possibility. What if this is the time he decides he’s going to go out with a bang?
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Department (JPD) Cpl. Blake Bergeaux. “He’s always been diligent and he brings
his gun with him everywhere he goes,” she said. “If we go somewhere and he realizes he forgot it, he will turn around and get it. It’s more important than if we leave a phone at home. He’d rather be late than forget his gun.”
Fontenot said when they go out in public, Bergeaux always chooses a seat facing the door, and he approaches every new person with caution.
“For something as simple as a stop at a convenience store just to grab a drink, when people recognize him as law enforcement, we have to automatically treat it as a possible threat,” she said. “He is always on guard and when I’m with him, I have to be, too.”
For as much strength and courage as it takes to put on the uniform, it takes just as much to stand behind that uniform.
“It’s hard to make plans because we never know if he’s going to be home,” she said. “We make a lot of sacrifices at home for him to be able to go out and dedicate his life to protecting the community. As much we want him home safe, he has a job. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.”
Her biggest fear is not that something will happen, but when.
“I know inevitably, he will have a con- frontation of some kind, just based on what he does for a living,” she said. “I just
wonder if it will happen when he and I are together, if he’ll have someone who can back him up or if he’ll be alone. I don’t want him stuck in any kind of threaten- ing or life-altering situation where he may have to use aggressive force, or submit to an attack and possibly be hurt, or worse.”
Despite her fears, she and Bergeaux never openly talk about them.
“I can’t, and he knows that’s my coping mechanism,” she said. “If we talk about it, I’ll think about it, and if I think about it, I’ll get scared. We try not to let our emotions and fears get the best of us and we enjoy our days the best we can. We just enjoy our lives without letting it slow us down.”
Fontenot said no matter how much they worry, she, as well as Bergeaux, love the job.
“He loves what he does,” she said. “And I love it just as much as he does. When you’re with a police officer, you have to be strong. The good thing is, we are never alone. There are other officers, and their families, in the same situation. We are all just one big family and we all stand with one another.”
As difficult as it is for a significant other to watch a loved one risk their lives every day, a mother’s sacrifice is particularly painful. Evelyn Landry said she always knew her son, JPD patrolman Ethan, would choose to follow his father’s footsteps into law enforcement.
“He was working at a good job in North
Dakota, making good money, when he got involved with the police department,” said Landry of her son. “He was already working as a reserve officer on his days off when he called me from work and said, ‘Mama, I think I’m going to go to work full-time with the Jennings Police Department.’ He told me he was ready to give his two weeks notice and go to work for Todd (D’Albor). I was in shock and couldn’t believe he’d give up that great job to make so little money, and I asked him if he was sure, and he said he understood.”
Landry said ever since he was a little boy, she always thought Ethan would join the military.
“Every toy he had was military, then it was firefighting, and then it was police cars,” she said. “In my heart, I always knew he’d become a police officer, so I should have been more prepared for it.”
Although she is happy her son has found his calling in life, she wakes up every morning and goes to bed every night with a heavy heart.
“It takes a good man to want to put his life on the line for someone who may not appreciate it,” she said. “I know there are some officers who may not always be the nicest people, and a lot of people might not like them. You can call them whatever you want, but when someone wrongs you, who are you going to call? You’re going to call that person with that badge and gun.”
Ever since her son became a full-time
police officer, she stopped turning off her cell phone.
“When something happens, he calls me and tells me he’s okay,” she said. “He wants me to know what happened before I see it on Facebook or hear it from someone else and worry. With all this going on, it makes me wonder: who are people going to call if the police aren’t here? No matter what people call them, they risk their lives to help people who don’t respect them. No one knows how dangerous it is like they do, and they don’t get paid much. It takes a big heart to do something for someone who doesn’t appreciate it. He left a high- paying job to do this because he truly loves it. He’s always had it in his blood to help people.”
Landry recalled one particular encounter she said made a strong impact on her as the mother of a police officer.
“I have a sticker on my car that says, ‘Blue lives matter,’” she said. “A man came up to me one day, pointed to my sticker and said, ‘All lives matter.’ I told him, ‘Yes sir, but people don’t respect the blue any- more.’ You learn to live with the fear. Every morning when I get up, I have to trust the good Lord will take care of my son.”
Brittany Schexneider also knows what it’s like to live in a constant state of worry, because she was raised by a law enforcement officer. Her father Bill Kettler is cur
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He’s not thinking about us, he’s thinking about whatever’s bothering him. Most of the time when we get calls, it’s regarding people who are in a bad situation and their emotions are unstable. When a person is emotionally charged, they are irrational, and irrational subjects can be difficult to communicate with.”
Doucet said the recent shootings have caused him to use more caution than usual.
“They definitely concern me,” he said. “I’m already cautious but during any call or traffic stop I respond to, I’m much more alert than if this wouldn’t have happened.”
While heading to a call, he replays every possible scenario in his head before he arrives, hoping for the best possible outcome but also preparing for the worst.
“I’m thinking about how I can resolve this situation in a calm manner,” he said. “But I’m also preparing myself for the possibility of if they have a gun, or possibly an ambush.”
Even while making traffic stops, he’s wondering if the driver is a Welsh citizen or someone he knows, or if someone is hiding in the back seat with a gun.
“An ideal situation is a smooth traffic stop where we can talk calmly,” he said. “I’m not so much concerned about writing a citation as I am about everything proceeding safely. My worst fear is if someone is hiding in that back seat and will pop out unexpectedly, or if the driver
is a subject with malicious intent and decides that this is the moment he wants to take a cop out, and it’s me.”
When working interstate, he has to think about additional people coming into the quiet community of Welsh from everywhere else.
“They don’t know us,” he said. “They have no interest or concern for us. To them, we might just be a uniform. We don’t know if that person is just a trav- eler passing through or someone running from a crime spree and this is just the next stop. These are things we constantly think about.”
Doucet said disconnecting from work when he goes home is still a work in progress.
“Sometimes it’s an easy day, and sometimes it’s very stressful and hard to let go of,” he said. “Now I’m thinking more about what will my family do if something happens to me. As our risk gets higher, we have to think about it more, and that concern increases our stress. These are already things that weigh heavy on my mind and heart, but since the shootings, I think about it even more.”
WPD Ptn. Laura Janise began her career eight years ago in Welsh and has been there ever since. She said news of the recent shootings have increased her already heightened state of awareness.
“I know there are people out there who want to target me just because I’m a police officer,” she said. “That seems to be
the turning point now-a-days. Even when I’m not on shift, or when I’m home, I’m constantly having to check and double- check myself for security, protection and my gear. I always did it anyway, but even more now. I’m of the mindset to be prepared 24/7. The risks are so much higher than they ever were.”
She also worries about her family, especially her six-year-old son.
“They are caught in the crosshairs just because of what I do and who I am,” she said. “He’s only six and I don’t want him to know all those bad things in the world. I don’t want him to know when Mom goes to work, there’s a possibility I might not come home. So when I’m off and I’m with him, I try to spend as much quality time as I can with him. I make sure he knows I love him, and I will always love him. I try not to make him face that reality because this is something I chose to do with my life. He didn’t choose to have a police officer for a mom. I did this long before he came into the world.”
Janise said although she tries to guard him as much as possible, she feels he knows more than she tells him.
“I tell him I will always come home and I’m never going to leave him,” she said. “But he’s a smart kid and I know he’s starting to catch on to what it means every time I leave for work. That motivates me more to protect myself because I have to come home to him. I’m everything to him, and he’s waiting for me.”
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Scouts show support for LEOs
Scouts showed their support for law enforcement July 16 by preparing and serving meals to members of Jennings’ fire and police departments, Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office and Acadian Ambulance. Troops 65 and 59, as well as Pack 65 participated, with the help of donations from Daigle’s 66, Kil- roy’s, Super Foods, Elliott’s Slaughterhouse, Java Joltz and Brew & Bake.
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rently a commander with JDSO with a 28-year career in law enforcement, and she married into law enforcement. Her husband, Tyler, was in the Army for four years before joining the JDSO team where he’s been for four years.
“Growing up with a police officer for a dad was very different than my friends’ childhoods,” she said. “He never left the house without his gun, he worked lots of overtime and missed a ton of stuff like birthdays and school events. You have to learn really early to be okay with it. You learn to mature at a very early age and part of that maturity is realizing they have a job to do, and it requires them to be away a lot. I understood, so I was never upset about it.”
She said even as a child, she learned to live with constant worry.
“To this day, I never turn my cell phone off,” she said. “You learn to live in a constant state of awareness when your dad is a cop. You always look around, you always know who’s around you and we learned safe gun-handling from a young age. You learn to mature a little quicker than your peers.”
When she was a teenager in high school, her friends would joke that she was always the responsible one in her group.
“When my friends and I wanted to do something, I was always the one who planned and organized everything,” she said. “Dad taught us how to prepare for
anything, so I took care of everything. I’m still like that. Anytime I have to go anywhere, I never go alone, always bring something to defend myself and never turn my back on a stranger.”
Although her life was different from other families, it was never an issue.
“You don’t feel sorry for yourself about the way things are,” she said. “Sure, I would have loved for him to be around for more, but he always had to work or go to training. That meant we had to train, too.”
Life with a law enforcement officer was not always about sacrifice or being prepared. Schexneider said there were perks, too.
“It may have been difficult for him to be at scheduled events, but his job allowed him to pop in for visits in the middle of the day,” she said. “My husband does that now, too.”
But being raised by a cop and married to one are two different lifestyles.
“All the adjustments I learned as a cop’s daughter were helpful when I married a man in law enforcement, but I still had to get used to other aspects,” she said. “It’s been a very different experience. I always worried about my dad out at work, and now I worry about my husband’s safety, but it’s a little different. He’s my partner in life and I need him in this world. I need him to help raise our daughter.”
Like her father, Schexneider said her husband also practices the same law
enforcement routines she grew up with. “When we go to a restaurant, my hus-
band has to sit with his back to the wall,” she said. “He works almost every holiday and I know our daughter will grow up the same way I did. She will also have to learn how to be aware of her surroundings, how to mature quickly and be okay with her dad missing a lot of very important events and milestones. It may be scary but I know she will be fine, just like I was.”
Before she and her husband had their daughter, she didn’t think much about the extra precautions she grew up with. She was also more outspoken about defend- ing and standing up for law enforcement. When their daughter was born, she said she became even more careful.
“Anytime I promote law enforcement, I have to think about how those actions will affect my daughter,” she said. “When you open up about these things, you almost have a target on you. That’s something I think about all the time.”
One of her scariest moments was early in her husband’s career, when the couple was followed.
“The first year of his career, he worked in the jail,” she said. “There was this one guy in there who didn’t particularly like him. One day, some time after he was released, we saw him in a local department store. He followed us around the store, trying to intimidate us. He then followed my car and got my license plate number. That
really scared me.” The recent shootings in Dallas have
renewed her concern, bordering on panic. “These shootings have been extra
scary,” she said. “I’m filled with a lot of fear and anger about what happened in Dallas and Baton Rouge. It’s difficult seeing all the hatred and anger from the public, because you know most people just don’t understand or have any idea what these officers go through in a day. At the end of the day, I want my husband to do what he needs to do to come home safely to me and our daughter. If someone threatens or pulls a gun on him, I don’t want him to take any chances.”
One person who has loved ones in every level of law enforcement, including city, parish and state, requested anonymity for her and her family when sharing her story because the family has been threatened in the past.
“I grew up with a father in law enforcement,” she explained. “We’ve had several threats against the family from people in prison who were angry or scorned against police officers. The job goes beyond the person who wears the badge. When someone in the family works in this type of field, it always affects those around them, including their co-workers, family and friends.”
The unnamed woman compared the
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after-effects of law enforcement and even criminal activity to throwing a pebble in the water.
“There is a ripple affect,” she said. “It’s no different for the family members of the person who has committed the crime. It also affects their parents, siblings and friends. Not everyone wants to openly admit they are related to someone who committed a violent crime or shot a cop. I know I wouldn’t.”
Despite wishing to remain anonymous, she said she’s very proud of the members of her family who choose to go out and protect the public every day.
“It takes a special person to do that,” she said. “Not everyone will respond when someone says they need help. If you think about it, they do this almost every day. When they leave the house, they have no idea what they will face that day. We as a family realize that, too. It’s a family thing.”
She said the things officers see or have to do affects who they are long after the incident is over.
“This is a very hard job for them,” she said. “If they are shot at or have to shoot someone, it affects them. Most of the time they don’t tell anyone what they had to face that day. Sometimes weeks or months later, I would find out what happened on a typical day on the job, and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”
She prays for all law enforcement every day, especially her loved ones.
“My heart breaks for all those in law enforcement who are forced to deal with any kind of violence,” she said. “To live with someone who does this job, you worry every time they leave the house and you say prayers, lots of prayers, every day. You just put your faith in God.”
Dallas and other areas, we, along with the sheriff’s office, have begun sending two units to potentially violent situations,” explained Crochet. “If we get calls from the sheriff’s office for service and it may be just outside city limits, we’re going. No question, we’re going. If we’re passing deputies and they’re conducting a stop, we’ll sit as
a cover officer behind to ensure both the safety of the driver and the officer.”
Crochet said Welsh reaches outside the parish lines when necessary as well, all in the name of boosting community security.
“We have an agreement with Lake Charles City PD (Police Department) where we can call them in when we
need assistance, and we have also utilized those services,” said Crochet, who worked for the Calcasieu Sheriff’s Office. “We have a good working relationship with all our parish agencies and agencies outside Jefferson Davis Parish. We can relay and share info.”
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
A blue bow consisting of six yards of ribbon hangs outside the Jennings Daily News office.
The bows can be purchased for $6, or bows made from
three yards of ribbon can be purchased for $3. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the
non-profit Jennings Police As- sociation.
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law enforcement is through a special project made possible by Flowers by Julie and Jennings Daily News. Businesses and individuals can purchase blue bows made from weather-proof ribbon that can be displayed to show support for law enforcement officers, and part of the proceeds will benefit a local police organization.
Bows created from three yards of ribbon will be sold for $3 each, with $1 going to Jennings Police Association (JPA). Bows consisting of
six yards of ribbon may be purchased for $6, with $2 going to JPA. The remaining funds will be used to cover supply expenses only for the project.
JPA is non-profit and in the past has donated to help law enforcement officers dealing with unexpected medical emergencies; supported area families dealing with sudden tragedies; purchased Christmas gifts for local children from struggling families; and sponsored parish-wide memo- rial events for fallen law enforcement officers and first responders.
The blue bows can be purchased at Jennings Daily News office at 238 N. Market Street in Jennings and at Flowers by Julie at 526 N. Main Street in Jennings. Supporters interested in larger bows than those offered or a different design may make special requests, and an appro- priate price will be determined, with a portion of proceeds still being donated to JPA.
For more information, call Flowers by Julie at (337) 824-1999 or Jennings Daily News at (337) 824-3011.
BOWS from page 2
WELSH — Jennings Daily News reported earlier in the week that law enforcement agencies in Jeff Davis Parish are taking extra precautions in light of recent ambushes of officers across the nation, most notably the shooting deaths of three Baton Rouge officers one week ago on July 17.
Some precautions include additional manpower during each shift, as no officer or deputy is being ad- vised to answer calls alone, including for traffic viola- tions, meaning department budgets can expect an increase in overtime hours. But the heads of local city halls have agreed that law enforcement should have whatever resources needed available to them at this dangerous time in the nation.
“It’s costly, but how much is a life worth?” asked Welsh Mayor Carolyn Louviere. “I certainly do not want a policeman going out without what he needs, or to be alone right now. I have enough confidence in our police chief that he knows what he needs to do and how to prepare his officers.”
Welsh entered a new fiscal year on June 1 and the Welsh Police Department’s (WPD) budget has already required amending for various needs. But Louviere said no one can truly anticipate just what a police department’s budget will call for throughout any given year.
“You can’t anticipate something like this,” she said of current concerns. “When we were mapping out our budgets for this year, none of us would have thought things like this would take place. As long as we can see the money is available, then we need to amend that
budget to make sure our department is taken care of, because they take care of this town.”
She said she has spoken to WPD Chief Marcus Cro- chet daily, who has expressed concern for his officers’ safety and acknowledged the stress law enforcement is dealing with from increasing negative attitudes and actions on the public’s behalf.
“It’s very hard for them right now and they shouldn’t have to worry about how the budget will affect them,” the mayor said.
One benefit to the WPD is its Traffic Enforcement Detail (TED) program, which allows officers to patrol Interstate 10 along Welsh during their off time for extra pay. Funds from fees collected through the program not only pay for TED’s overhead, but are also split between the department and the town’s general fund.
“If you don’t have the money, then you’re hands are tied,” Louviere said. “I tell people all the time, running a town’s finances is like overseeing your personal ac- count. There are things you need that sometimes have to wait or you have to plan for. TED has been a great help and at a time like this, it’s definitely helping us accomplish what is needed.”
Louviere added that she believes the WPD does great work in the town and deserves community support.
“I know I feel safe here,” she said. “Still, I don’t know what it’s like to do their job. They go to work not know- ing if they will be going home. I know every mayor is worried for their departments right now. I have worries for ours, the parish and the state. I just don’t understand how some people can take innocent lives. But whatever our officers need and whatever we have to do to help them, we will.”
By SHEILA SMITH [email protected]
In appreciation
to protect public safety
Law Enforcement Officers FACE What You FEAR
SHERIFF IVY WOODS and the
Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff ’s Office
SHERIFF IVY WOODS and the
Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff ’s Office

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SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2016 A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF JENNINGS