A 26-year Louisiana State Police (LSP) veteran from North Louisiana has been named by Gov. John Bel Edwards as the interim Superintendent of State Police to succeed Col. Mike Edmonson as State Police Superintendent, the governor’s office announced on Tuesday.
But the inside word received by LouisianaVoice is that the interim part of Maj. Kevin Reeves’ new title may be short-lived as Edwards is expected to name him the permanent superintendent in time for confirmation by the State Senate in June. State law requires the Louisiana State Police superintendent to be a trooper from within the agency’s ranks.
Reeves, a native of Baton Rouge, is a 1990 graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and currently resides in Jonesboro.
He began his career at the LSP in 1990 when he was assigned to motorcycle patrols with Troop A in Baton Rouge. His career took him to Troop F in Monroe in 1993, where he served as a squad leader for the mobile field force and as a case agent and undercover agent on narcotics investigations and operations for the Bureau of Investigations.
In 2008, he became the Troop Commander of Troop F before assuming the role of Command Inspector of Patrol Operations and Commander of Statewide Mobile Field Force Team in 2013. Major Reeves is married to Kristi Hall Reeves and they have three children – Kaleb, Kyle and Klayton. He currently makes $150,000 per year.
Reeves is scheduled to meet with Edwards on Thursday to discuss the transition in LSP administration.
His most pressing objective will be to shore up morale among the state’s 1,500 rank and file State Troopers who, despite generous pay raises, have continued to express dismay in the way in which the Baton Rouge headquarters, under its current leadership, had taken on the appearance of a frat house instead of a professional organization.
LouisianaVoice has learned that one of Edmonson’s inner circle, Lt. Col. Charles Dupuy, though bitter at not being named Edmonson’s successor, will nevertheless be retained as Reeves’ Chief of Staff.
“That’s bad,” said one retired state trooper.
It was not immediately known if Reeves had the backing of the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association and if so, if the retention of Dupuy was a trade-off for that support. The sheriffs were said to have been lobbying hard for Dupuy.
A veteran State Trooper described Reeves as “common sense, ethical, respected, respectable, and just as good as or better than any other choice as a permanent replacement for Edmonson. He makes good, solid decisions in the face of complicated issues when everyone else cannot. Essentially, he is polar opposite of Mike Edmonson.”
Reeves, for his part, said, “I would like to establish an atmosphere where we’re inclusive of our personnel and we encourage them to come forth with their concerns,” he said. “I am going to try to reach out to all of our employees and take that message to them.”
He said he welcomes inquiries that are ongoing by the FBI and auditors from the Division of Administration as investigations into State Police travel records and campaign contributions by the Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA) continue. “We need to be transparent,” he said.
LouisianaVoice also received reports, confirmed by the Legislative Auditor’s office that representatives from the that office have been in place at LSP for more than a week to carry out an audit requested by State Rep. Blake Miguez (R-Erath). An unconfirmed report also said that the FBI appeared Tuesday at the State Police Office of Management and Finance, currently overseen by Lt. Col. Jason Starnes who was promoted and placed in that position just last August.
State Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera reached out to LouisianaVoice in an effort at full disclosure Tuesday to say that the wife of Mike Edmonson’s brother, State Police Maj. Paul Edmonson, is an auditor in his office but will take no part on the audit. “She brought it up in a meeting in our office,” Purpera said. “Our office, of course, has fire walls to separate any of our people from sensitive situations such as this.”
Edmonson, meanwhile, will host a farewell breakfast in the LSP cafeteria Friday from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. as he concludes 36 years with LSP, the last nine as superintendent.
Louisiana Voice 
Dupuy needs to go. I can see him sabotaging the new Colonel.
Totally agree. DupUy is THE rot on the apples in the LSP basket.
As a retired trooper that’s been there, and done that, Dupuy needs to go, along with all the other’s in the inter-circle of Command at Baton Rouge H.Q. L.S.P. needs a complete facelift from the top down at H.Q. and put an end to the frat house style of running the Department. I think Col. Kevin Reeves is an excellent candidate to get State Police back on track if given the leeway to do so.
He can only be as effective as the governor will allow him to be. This is in JBE’s lap. Whatever the end result is JBE will own. All the Louisiana Sheriff’s Assn. is owed is a superintendent they can work with but they want one they can control and both Bobby Jindal and JBE has granted them this. The LSA controlling LSP is directly responsible for the present deplorable state of LSP. Dupuy’s fingerprints are all over every single thing that LSP is currently under scrutiny for but he is going to be retained as Chief of Staff. That in itself indicates that the LSA still has it’s talons sunk deep into LSP. No matter how qualified Reeves is or how well intentioned he is, until the governor wants corruption, unethical behavior and nepotism cleaned up in LSP it won’t happen.
Is it possible that Reeves will address the Dupuy issue once he’s made permanent instead of interim?
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I would not expect sweeping personnel changes until the job is filled on a permanent basis.
Tom states in his post that Reeves is believed to be the permanent replacement. I know the official line from the JBE camp is that Reeves is strictly interim. These same people, most notably Richard Carbo, said nine days ago an Edmonson resignation (or “retirement” or whatever phrase one wants to use) was, and I quote, “rumor.” Less than 48 hours later, Edmonson announces his “retirement” in a very low-key manner.
The bottom line is this administration doesn’t want a blogger outlying the script on how things will play out, so they intentionally put out statements that, on the faces of those statements, seem to refute Tom. In doing so, this administration comes across as amateurish and petty. My money’s on Tom’s sources: Reeves is the permanent man and they already know it.
As for cleaning house, when you have been diagnosed with a terminal cancer, you treat it aggressively. You don’t just swallow an aspirin and somehow hope the cancer will miraculously cure itself!
I totally agree with the above statement by LSP Lt. Carl Bennett. Corruption, unethical behavior, and nepotism must be stopped by the Governor, and if not by him, by the voters of the state of Louisiana.
One of two scenarios will unfold (ignoring criminal indictments resulting from the upcoming convening of the Federal grand jury, which I think is inevitable and will cover a wide swath of law enforcement agencies throughout Southeast Louisiana):
1. Reeves will have an incredibly strong backbone, recognize the extensive problems in LSP management, and implement significant change, including terminations and demotions and make it clear to Edwards that, if he doesn’t have his back on orders he issues, he will resign and so state that as the reason for his resignation,
Or
2. He served as an ultimate patsy of the Edwards administration and LSP management and just goes along for the ride.
Only time will tell which scenario will unfold, but I agree with Carl’s statement entailing Dupuy: huge mistake right off the bat.
Reeves is an excellent replacement. He has the integrity and sound decision making that so many others are lacking. He’s a good man and will be a great leader for LSP. It’s discouraging to think he will keep Dupuy in place. Dupuy is the main source of the current problems within LSP, encouraging the frat like atmosphere and showing favoritism to the select few who surround him, namely those on the San Diego trip and a few new ones recently added.
I hope Reeves sees this problem and takes care of it. When the select few are allowed to do the things this group gets away with, it tends to cause major morale problems among the other employees. Reeves, you have an opportunity to clean up LSP. Don’t keep the good old boys in place. There are truly good people who you can surround yourself with and turn that place around.
Dupuy Must Go! He will undermine the New Colonel with his clique already established within the ranks.
Why in the world would he appoint Dupuy to any position on his staff. The entire current administration is part of the problem. Clean the playhouse out and restore integrity to this once storied department. This is ludicrous
At this stage, I seriously doubt HE is doing anything! If a mandate to retain Dupuy has been issued by Edwards (at the direct behest of the LSA), which the smart money is on, Reeves is simply taking his marching orders. That would lend credence to scenario # 2 I outline above. If Reeves is smart, he’ll tell Edwards that, with that requirement as part of the deal, he wants to renege on his acceptance.
I have said for a long time that Edwards is NOT his own man and that he is a 100-percent, T-Total, controlled puppet. A puppet would adhere to the stipulation of the LSA that Dupuy remain in his position, thus setting Reeves up for failure before he serves the first day on the job.
Now that we know who the interim, and most believe permanent replacement for the ethically corrupt Edmonson, it will be interesting to see how Reeves manages. It is widely agreed that Reeves is a ‘solid’ pick with little baggage on him. However, we must realize that he ascended to his heights under the hand of Edmonson. This is no way suggests that Reeves will behave like Mike, the difference already being that Kevin worked most of his career to get to this latest promotion. Kevin will have to cut ties with many acquaintances if he is to establish a reputable administration. I am one retiree who will REFUSE to embrace any hope if the command staff under scrutiny—Dupuy, Starnes, and others—are retained at their rank or assignment. Charlie has the time in to go away…far away….Starnes is unqualified for his created position…Oh, please, do not forget the payroll fraud….Thurman Miller from Natchitoches….
Please send that thief packing and the supervision that allowed it. I can write more, but for now will quietly observe, take notes, and then call my concerns in to my legislators after a bit. We cannot quit ringing the bell of change until order is restored.
I hope the meeting today between the governor and Reeves results in a positive plan to restore faith and integrity to the LSP. Good luck to the both of them and thanks again to Tom Aswell for being a powerful catalyst for change in the state police.
LSTA is going to catch hell from the Feds. I can see that ship is already lit on fire and sailing in the sunset like a Viking funeral. The LSTA is already under the bus and they don’t even see it yet. The rest are jumping ship like rats. The VEGAS TRIP: Edmonson and his group will claim they didn’t steal or cheat while going on the Vegas or California Trip. They overspent money. That is a fact but they will claim they did steal money. They will claim the timesheets were just an error—although we know better.
Word is , LSTA board is in complete meltdown!!!! Fingers are being pointed everywhere.
LSTA is in Complete meltdown sending out mail outs in order to secure more funding to pay for their past shenanigans. Everyone please read these mail outs seeking donations under the color of the badge. you will not see one word about lavish trips, political donations, and now payment of legal fees for participating in illegal campaign activity. Because the truth is, that is where the Troopers money and the solicited donations have been going.
Preposterous!!! I mean, don’t we have several folk who have openly stated that Doss told the members, “Look, we’re going to get this all straightened out. All we need to do is get me as Chairman of the Commission and I can work to get Derbonne fired!”?
So the gameplay went EXACTLY according to the script they laid out, and now they’re having to beg for money! I think Doss and a few others have promising careers (assuming they can retain their freedom) as televangelists.
The “forces of evil” are naturally Tom, Bucky, Lloyd Grafton, Derbonne, maybe even me.
Doss: “Folks, we’re in a crisis here. The heart and soul of this very organization hang in the balance. I’m asking each of you to do what you CAN do! For everyone who can make a generous contribution of at least $100, you’ll get a personally-autographed coffee mug of our former leader, Coll. MIke Edmonson. For a gift of $500, we’re going to give you the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have as your very own a personally-autographed photograph of each member of the San Diego contingency.
Please come forward and make your contributions now and, by the way, if we can raise at least $25,000 here tonight, an anonymous donor has agreed to match it, for a total of $50,000. Now as they begin the hymn, I want you to step out and come forward with your check! Remember: the very heart and soul of our organization is what we’re fighting for here against some powerful forces of darkness and evil.
I hope I am wrong but I would think you don’t make $150,000 a year, even after 26 years, without playing ball with someone. I regret that my pessimism may cast an aspersion on his character but if Reeves is on the up-and-up I’m sure he understands and will forgive me.
The pay scales are set across the board by the Louisiana State Police Commission, based on longevity and rank—supposedly without regard to specific individuals.
The exception to that, of course, is when a position is created specifically for one individual such as was done in the case of Jason Starnes, who was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel when he was named by Edmonson last August to head the Management and Finance Section of LSP—and given a furtive $25,000 raise in the process.
There are others who were promoted into positions that were created especially for them as documented by LouisianaVoice, but Reeves does not appear to be one of those.
Don’t forget the all-important overtime pay.
The audit needs to be thorough enough to root out the improper time fraud that seemingly runs rampant. The article on Thurman Miller was only a brief highlight of his ever evolving time fraud, of which he’s been aware of as improper, but continued anyway with the approval of his superiors. His time claimed at last years legislature should be looked into and it blow people’s minds!
He is not the only one.. People like him rolling in the overtime while the working Troopers are limited to 1/4 of his allowable hours. Again check his enforcement stats and other HQ POGs and you will see rampant fraud.
As a Louisiana State Trooper assigned to patrol, I heard with my on ears, on several occasions, then Trooper Keven Reeves brag about having sex with women on duty, both in, and out of patrol cars when he was assigned to patrol as a road trooper. I heard the man make this statement on more than one occasion. A simple lie detector test at IA could clear this up. Personally, I think he was telling the truth about these encounters with women. I am telling the truth about the above listed comment So Help Me God. I have nothing against Col. Reeves, and wish him the best, but if he was telling the truth about these sexual encounters on duty is he really qualified to lead the Louisiana State Police, and clean up the mess.
Respectfully
Louisiana State Trooper / Retired
P.S. Mr. Tom Aswell, do a little digging in the past, if only one of these past women come forward, his ship too will sink as fast as Edmonson’s.