Louisiana Voice

If you encounter an emergency at the University of New Orleans and find that you need police assistance, you probably need to pick a time during which an armed Police Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.)-certified officer may respond in a safe vehicle.

Otherwise, you may get a non-certified, unarmed officer/teacher who is driving a vehicle with no license plate and an expired inspection sticker.

Rick James Saephan resigned after three years as a campus police officer at UNO, saying, “I have just had enough” of seeing and hearing “many disturbing things that goes (sic) on within the police department.”

Saephan said at least one officer who has no arrest powers because of a lack of P.O.S.T certification “has been arresting and putting charges against the UNO community for the past 10 years.” A lieutenant who is not P.O.S.T. certified is allowed to be armed against regulations, he said.

He said when he submitted his resignation to Police Chief Harrington, the chief “became irate” and threatened to give bad performance reviews to any prospective employer who called him for a reference.

Several officers, including a lieutenant, are allowed to work on advanced degrees while on the clock as officers, he said.

LouisianaVoice was provided photos of two police vehicles which had no license plates or temporary tags. Another had an inspection sticker that expired in February of this year and still another’s inspection sticker expired in September of 2019.

I wonder if UNO police write tickets for students whose vehicles are caught on campus with expired inspection stickers or worse, no license plates?

Harrington’s Chief’s Welcome posted on the department’s web page said:

“Welcome to the University of New Orleans campus. The Department of Public Safety and Security’s number one goal is the safety of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors to our campus. The dedicated professionals of the department work hard to achieve that goal and to make this university the safest in the country. Police officers in the Department of Public Safety and Security have completed the State of Louisiana Police Officers Standards and Training and are commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Security officers are trained in dispatch, security, and parking control. Our administrative staff is here to assist our community in obtaining parking decals and answering questions about parking.

“Members of this department are highly trained and experienced officers who continue to receive additional training in areas such as anti-bias awareness, constitutional community policing, cultural awareness, racial profiling, crisis intervention, and the LGBT community, in order to further the goals of the university community in educating our students. We want you to feel secure and safe when on our campus, and our diverse staff of well-trained professionals are crucial in achieving that goal.”

LouisianaVoice conducted a survey of Louisiana universities to determine how many officers in the various departments were P.O.S.T. certified. Harrington said UNO “currently has 14 P.O.S.T. certified police officers and five officers who are not P.O.S.T. certified.”

Other responses:

All of the LA Tech Police Departments patrol/response officers are POST certified. 

In the case of a newly hired officer/employee who is not POST certified, that person would be limited to only dispatch duty until able to attend a POST academy. 

Chief Randal Hermes

All of our patrol/response personnel are P.O.S.T. certified.

Northwestern State University

Mr. Aswell,

LSUE Police and Security has a staff of 5.  Myself and one other are POST certified police officers. The other three are unarmed security staff

CAPT. CORY LALONDE

Director of Police

Louisiana State University Eunice

All of ours at LSU are POST certified

Ernie Ballard III
Media Relations Director  

Thank you for your email. Southeastern has 24 sworn officers and all 24 are POST certified. 
Tiffany Chavers-Edwards, M.S.

Southeastern Louisiana University Police Department

All of our officers are POST certified.

Billy Abrams
Lieutenant
UL Lafayette Police Dept.