|
School safety a priority; Neighborhood Watch program to start again; plans underway to reopen sheriff’s sub-stations
For anyone in law enforcement, one of the worst scenes to see is a police officer, with his gun drawn, standing behind a tree outside a school building while an “active’’ shooter is inside killing and wounding students and staff.
That same scene, unfortunately, has been repeated too many times over the past several years, from the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999, to the Virginia Tech University shootings this last April 16.
This last one, in which more than 30 people were killed by a student, has again brought the issue of safety at schools to the forefront for parents.
While the likelihood of such an incident in Chalmette is remote, the Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with school leaders, has prepared for the possibility of intruders in buildings.
In an active shooter situation you can’t stand around outside, you have to go in and neutralize the person or persons. And you need to set up a communications center for parents.
Fire Chief Thomas Stone and I met May 7 with Schools Superintendent Doris Voitier and her staff and principals to start updating emergency plans with the school system as two more schools prepare to open in August. I have previously met with officials at Nunez Community College to discuss emergency preparedness.
Our department’s SWAT team has trained in each school before Hurricane Katrina and we want to re-familiarize ourselves with new schools before they open. We’ve had a standing plan for emergencies but deputies will go through schools again and Stone’s staff will do the same.
Plans are underway for the Sheriff’s Office to re-establish the Neighborhood Watch program in the parish, which was an essential element of crime prevention prior to Hurricane Katrina. We encourage all civic associations and individuals to become active when final plans are announced shortly.
To be effective, it takes residents looking out for each other by noticing any suspicious actions in their neighborhoods and, if they see something, not hesitating to quickly call the Sheriff’s Office.
We know that in the post-Katrina world of St. Bernard Parish the population is reduced because people are not back in some subdivisions, meaning there aren’t as many sets of eyes on the street to be on the lookout for crime.
The Sheriff’s Office has been trying to stay ahead of the curve, including working with the National Crime Prevention Center.
We are looking at ideas such as rotating surveillance cameras in different public areas to help identify criminals.
Another priority for our Sheriff’s Office is the reopening of sub-stations in various parts of the parish.
Prior to the hurricane we had four sub-stations, two at the entrances to the parish in Arabi, one on Paris Road near the Orleans line and a fourth at Verrett in eastern St. Bernard.
A piece of property has been purchased at 1601 Aycock Street in Arabi near the parish line and is expected to be used as one sub-station.
Our department will soon be able to discuss when we can begin opening the sub-stations again.
Dear Fellow St. Bernardians:
Hurricane Katrina has been declared as the worst natural disaster in the modern era of our nation and will forever be remembered as the first hurricane to destroy an entire parish here in Louisiana. All of St. Bernard Parish was destroyed, but our dignity remained firm. Hurricane Katrina swept through our parish with winds clocked at 170 miles an hour and higher in gusts, but it never blew away our pride. Hurricane Katrina forced tidal surges nearly 40 feet high throughout the parish, but it never washed away our determination to come back and rebuild the most beautiful and family-oriented parish in this wonderful nation. With this in mind, everyone here in your St. Bernard Sheriff's Office wants to welcome you, our friends, family members, and neighbors, back to St. Bernard Parish.
We welcome you home with a pride fueled by the men and women of the Sheriff's Office, who withstood more than 28 hours of tropical storm and category 4 and 5 hurricane conditions while rescuing, housing, feeding, providing medical attention for, and later helping to reach safety nearly 10,000 parish residents who decided not to evacuate. I've never been prouder of our deputies, who faced nearly a week without outside help, as they formed search and rescue, foraging for food and medicine, and scout teams, while at the same time literally "locking down" the parish, protecting it, while mounting problems grew in the neighboring city of New Orleans. Their selfless dedication to, determination for, and loyalty toward St. Bernard Parish, definitely in her darkest hour, will be my greatest memory of our years of service together! They served then, and continue to serve today, each of us proudly.
We have worked long and hard to get our temporary administrative offices up and running on Melvyn Perez Parkway on the St. Bernard Port, Harbor, and Terminal District site in Chalmette. Please feel free to stop by and visit the Law Enforcement Support Area if you need any assistance with your tax or civil matters. Also please be advised that we are working to get our website back up and running, again, for your convenience. We will let you know when the reconstruction process is complete, although as you can see, we are making great strides in that regard. All true St. Bernardians know that Katrina may have taken our houses, our schools, our churches, and our businesses, but never did that storm take our home! With this in mind, all of us at your St. Bernard Sheriff's Office remind you that we are ready to continue serving you and "keeping St. Bernard safe" now and in the future.
Thank you for joining with us in rebuilding St. Bernard Parish!
| 
.bmp)