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BRPD Chief speaks on potential agreement with DHS to fund HQ renovations, combat violence crime
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BATON ROUGE -- Earlier this week, Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse sent a letter to the EBR Metro Council asking for approval of a potential agreement with the Department of Homeland Security.
The agreement was introduced at the East Baton Rouge Metro Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, with the agreement reading, "Authorizing the Mayor-President, on behalf of the Baton Rouge Police Department, to enter into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (DHS HSI) for the acceptance of funding at approximately $1,157,000.00."
Morse spoke to WBRZ about the potential agreement on Wednesday as well, saying it will be a great chance to collaborate with multiple agencies to combat violent crime.
"The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security investigations. This is their investigation port. They go after drugs, guns, violent crime, gangs," Morse told WBRZ.
Morse says this agreement is part of a plan to address violent crime and group violence. Also, as part of the agreement, federal funds would go toward renovating 9,000 square feet of office space at the BRPD headquarters on Airline Hwy. The space would serve as a site for a multi-agency Homeland Security Investigative Task Force.
"They can have office space there, along with the FBI, state agencies, state police, and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office. So we can kind of have a task force to look at violent crime, gang activity, gun violence, all in the parish area," Morse said.
Morse was asked why DHS and homeland security investigations would be coming forward to them with $1.1 million.
"I think because we're the capital city of Louisiana, and we already have such a good reputation for working well with our federal task forces. The HSI, they're the ones getting a lot of the money and the grants right now, and so they have this money, they want to build out this task force operation."
Morse was also asked how much of the violent crime they've been talking about can be attributed to gangs or groups.
"I think it's hard to put a number on it, that's why we're really trying to focus on, and the national network is helping us. I think a lot of our homicides that we have seen are that," Morse said.
After the Mall of Louisiana shooting last month, state and local leaders pushed for more federal support to help tackle the violence in the community.
At Wednesday evening's council meeting, WBRZ asked several council members their thoughts on seeing the agreement ordinance.
District 4 Councilman Aaron Moak says he believes this agreement would be beneficial for Baton Rouge.
"With the pay raises and the increased opportunity to bring on more deputies, more training, more opportunities, not just for our police officers, but for surrounding agencies, this $1.1 million is going to help prepare that facility for that," Moak said.
Both Morse and Moak want to make it clear that the section of DHS in the agreement, the investigations, is not the same as border patrol.
"I don't want the narrative to be put out there, as far as this is going to be some kind of ICE thing or just outright raid or anything like that. This is a collaboration for training, for communication," Moak said.
"This is not border patrol, this is not ICE, Homeland Security has a lot of different branches," Morse added.
Other council members tell WBRZ they need to hear more before making a decision whether to accept or deny this agreement.
"Questions are still out there, so what I'll do is I'll make sure that I ask the right questions, so that when we vote on it, I can vote the right way to support the people of District 5 and the people of East Baton Rouge Parish," District 5 Councilman Darryl Hurst said.
There will be a public hearing on the agreement at the next regular meeting of the council. That is scheduled for June 10 at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
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