Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry has tapped two Iberville Parish officials to serve on a multifaceted advisory committee that will identify a game plan to address the state’s soaring crime rate once he takes office.
Landry appointed 18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton and Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stassi to the committee, which includes representatives from education, business, clergy and other entities.
“He wants to be ready on Day 1 when he becomes governor to ask for a special session on crime, and he wanted to know what we thought we could do the first 30 days and first 90 days after he takes office,” Stassi said. “We have a broad group of people from sheriff’s office, district attorneys, all kinds of public defenders … the whole spectrum.”
The committee involves both Democrats and Republicans from across the state.
Landry wants ideas from all fronts so he can determine the best way to move forward and figure what kind of legislation and changes they can address, the sheriff said.
“It’s a broad array of people who brings ideas from all parts of the criminal justice system,” Stassi said. “That’s going to be right off the bat and, as he said in New Orleans, we’ve got to do something about the crime … there’s no excuse.
“The governor-elect wants ideas from all parts of the state and all parts of the criminal justice system,” he said.
Landry’s focus on the violent crime comes as three Louisiana cities – New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport – are listed in a Forbes magazine list of the 10 Most Dangerous Cities in the United States.
New Orleans is No. 4, Baton Rouge No. 8 and Shreveport No. 10. Louisiana has the most cities of any state in that listing.
St. Louis leads the list, followed by Jackson, Miss. Detroit, Baltimore, Memphis, Cleveland and Kansas City, Mo., round out the listing.
It may take some time to finalize the anti-crime agenda, but some of the components are obvious, Stassi said.
“We need the clergy, and we need family … it can’t just be a law enforcement issue and it can’t just be a school issue,” he said. “It can’t just be a law enforcement issue and it can’t just be a school issue … it takes all of us to do it.
“We’ve also got to change the way these young people think. We don’t want someone who sells drugs to be the only person they look up to.
“We don’t want those kinds of people to be highlight. We want to showcase people who do things the right way, and we’ve need to change things with guns … the gun violence is out of hand. Parents have to much more involved in the lives of their children.”
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