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KLFY News 10
Ville Platte crime response meeting packed with local and state officials
By Rodricka Taylor,
1 day ago
EVANGELINE PARISH, La. ( KLFY ) — State and local officials gathered Wednesday to address violent crime involving juveniles in Ville Platte.
Ville Platte Mayor Ryan LeDay Williams said the safety and well-being of the community is a major concern, especially due to recent criminal activity primarily involving juveniles.
“We must work collaboratively to find effective strategies to ensure the safety of our businesses, business owners and provide our youth with the supportive opportunities that they need to choose to have a positive path forward,” Williams said.
Police Chief Perry Thomas pointed to a recent shooting at the Gabriel Villa Apartment Complex, saying that incident involved a juvenile.
That shooting happened Monday afternoon, resulting in a 20-year-old man being hospitalized for injuries, according to authorities.
It is such shootings involving juveniles that have the city officials looking for solutions to combat it.
Bill Moore, with the Louisiana State Police, said the law enforcement agency is seeing a lot of young adults that are involved in neighborhood gangs that are very territorial.
“Beefing it out with the rival neighborhood gangs, taking it to social media, and the next thing you know, they’re there in the street shooting and that’s just a fact,” Moore said.
One woman in the audience expressed frustration, saying people are leaving and businesses are closing as a result of crime.
“So let’s do something different. If the sheriff is offering or has a plan to help or if we had to bring in state police. We haven’t seen that action. So I think the majority of us just want to see something else being done,” the woman said.
Evangeline Parish Sheriff Charles Guillory was among the many state and local officials offering a helping hand to the Ville Platte city department. He said that although Ville Platte is 4.02 square miles and the parish is 680 square miles, the city seems to have more problems.
“It can stop but we have to work together and work hard,” he said.
Concerns about where to place juveniles after they were charged with crimes were expressed.
Kenneth Loftin, the Secretary of the Office of Juvenile Justice, said there are issues with limited bed space across the state. But, because Senate Bill 431 successfully passed, it will help build juvenile detention centers across the state of Louisiana and tackle that problem in the future, he said.
State Sen. of District 28 Heather Cloud highlighted reforms within the Office of Juvenile Justice she has done including age criteria for prosecution, enhancing sentencing transparency, and strengthening penalties.
“You chose me to govern and at the end of the day if we’re not doing it to the best of our ability, you’re going to replace us because nothing matters more than the safety of your family and your community,” Cloud said.
Other concerns expressed were over how to hold accountable children ages 11-12 who commit crimes. Others suggested more police patrol in the community.
Larry Freeman, with the Attorney General’s Office, said solutions, such as monitoring juveniles, are working in New Orleans.
“If we can solve the big boy problem in New Orleans, it’s going to kind of trickle around and those solutions are going to be applicable everywhere but I can tell you, the attorney general has taken it very seriously,” he said.
Cloud suggested real-time monitoring bracelets the city police department can gain as resources.
After a little over two hours at the meeting, there was an executive meeting with state and local officials to further discuss solutions to tackle the concerns in the city.
Cloud assured the people in attendance that their concerns were not falling on empty ears.
Other officials in attendance were Kyle Ardoin with the Governor’s Office, State Representative Rhonda Bulter, Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood, Ward 1 City Judge Greg Vidrine, District Attorney Trent Brignac, 13th Judicial District Judges Chuck West and Marcus Fontenot.
View a statement from the Ville Platte mayor below:
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