A recent SettleTalk "Does Caddo Commission Really Need to Declare a State of Emergency on Gun Violence?" is reprinted below.
A resolution recognizing the detriment of gun violence in Caddo Parish, requesting parish stakeholders to gather and promulgate a plan to combat gun violence within Caddo Parish, requesting the state to consider declaring gun violence to be a public health emergency within Caddo Parish was first introduced at a Caddo Commission work session on Monday March 4.
Vote on this resolution could have been taken at the Commission regular meeting on Thursday on March 7. The Commission delayed the vote until this week.
Stormy Gage-Watts, the sponsor of the resolution, postponed the vote again until the Commission's next regular meeting on Thursday, April 4.
I hope the resolution will be withdrawn. If not, the resolution should be sent to a Commission committee.
This would allow the winner of the Sheriff's election, current Sheriff Jay Long, Caddo DA James Stewart, SPD Chief Wayne Smith, and other stakeholders to give input on the proposal.
DOES CADDO COMMISSION REALLY NEED TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON GUN VIOLENCE?
It’s a question that will no doubt be the subject of extended discussion at the Caddo Commission meeting on Thursday. Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts has the following resolution on the agenda for a vote:
A resolution recognizing the detriment of gun violence in Caddo Parish, requesting parish stakeholders to gather and promulgate a plan to combat gun violence within Caddo Parish, requesting the state to consider declaring gun violence to be a public health emergency within Caddo Parish, and otherwise providing with respect thereto.
The resolution should bear close scrutiny for many reasons:
1. On the surface the resolution could be considered to be a slam against the Caddo Parish Sheriff Office and have political motivations for the pending sheriff election on March 23
2. Almost all of the gun violence is in the City of Shreveport and subject to the overview of the city council.
3. Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith has advised the city council that he regularly meets with local law enforcement agencies, including the Caddo Sheriff and federal agencies, to address crime.
4. in response to a similar resolution passed by the city council last December, Mayor Tom Arceneaux declined to declare a public emergency stating, in part, that:
"I do not believe that a declaration of emergency under the city's current facts would result in relief from the requirements of the Louisiana Procurement Code. We further have not identified any grants or resources that would be available upon a declaration of emergency that are not otherwise available to SPD. The normal purpose of the declaration of emergency is to avoid some kind of process or make available some kind of resources, and that is not the case. We have not identified any type of those things that would be immediately available to us."
Arceneaux's research and logic is applicable to the subject Commission resolution.
5. There has been no public discussion with the Commission administrators on the impact of declaring a "public health emergency" or possible funding to this endeavor.
6. There has been no public meeting by the Commission as a whole or of a Commission committee with law enforcement officials to discuss the need for such a resolution or the impact of the resolution.
7. There has been no public meeting by the Commission as a whole or of a Commission committee with state officials to determine the impact of a public health emergency and possible funding for this proposed endeavor.
8. There has been no public meeting by the Commission as a whole or of a Commission committee with local legislators to determine the impact of a public health emergency and possible funding for this proposed endeavor.
In the past the Commission has wisely referred questionable and controversial proposed resolutions and ordinances to a committee for review and input. Such action on this pending public health emergency resolution would certainly be appropriate in this instance.