Louisiana Voice

The same day that this nice solicitation letter arrived from the Louisiana State Police Association, it was learned that the second in command at Louisiana State Police (LSP) headquarters had finally been put on administrative leave pending an internal investigation into how it came about that his work cell phone was wiped just as an investigation into the beating death of Ronald Greene was heating up.

At the same time, it was announced just over five weeks after LouisianaVoice first RAISED THE ISSUE, that a 19-year LSP veteran had been arrested on counts of malfeasance and injuring public records after falsely claiming to have been a hit-and-run victim in New Orleans when in fact, he had struck another vehicle the day before in St. Tammany Parish and fled the scene.

LouisianaVoice had also RAISED QUESTIONS as early as February about why the phones of several LSP higher ups, including Kevin Reeves, who had resigned as LSP superintendent, Mike Noel, who also resigned rather than undergo questions about the Greene matter during his confirmation hearings to head up the State Gaming Board.

The reason given for sanitizing those phones was that Reeves and Noel had left LSP employ and the phones needed to be restored to factory settings for re-issue.

The only problem was the phones of Doug Cain, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel by Reeves’ successor, Col. Lamar Davis, and former LSP executive counsel Faye Dysart Morrison were also sanitized and they are still employed, though Morrison has been reassigned to a lowed-salaried position.

This, even as LSP was being instructed not to destroy evidence in the Greene matter. Text messages about the beating and subsequent death of Greene, are considered evidence in any court jurisdiction in the country, something law enforcement personnel should know instinctively.

So, finally, on Friday, came the announcement that Cain, who once confided to LouisianaVoice his desire that he might one day be named LSP superintendent, had been placed on administrative leave, albeit paid leave, pending an internal investigation into what we will call, for lack of a better term, Phonegate.

“The decision to place him on leave was made in the best interest of the department to eliminate any questions into the integrity of the investigation,” Davis said. Integrity of the investigation? Seriously? State troopers beat, tased and kicked Greene to death, then lied that he died in an auto accident at the end of a police chase on May 10, 2019.

State police tried to say there was no body cam video. There was, but it didn’t surface for more than two years. Even then, detectives were thwarted in their efforts to get to the bottom of this act of pure brutality (it wasn’t the only one in LSP’s F-Troop). They (investigators) were told that a real investigation would bring trouble for LSP. They (those same investigators) were instructed to withhold evidence, including the belatedly-discovered body cam video from the district attorney.

And now Davis wants to allude to the “integrity of the investigation.”

Forgive me if I’m a tad jaded when Davis talks about “integrity of the investigation.”

As New Orleans Advocate columnist James Gill pointed out on Friday, if there had been even a half-assed investigation into the brutalization of New Orleans attorney Ashton O’Dwyer by “several of the same troopers” in the hours after Hurricane Katrina, then the sordid events up in Monroe’s F-Troop may well have been avoided.

So, after all that, in Friday’s mail was a letter addressed to me from the State Troopers Association that tried to appeal to the “difficult times” law enforcement is going through. “The men and women in the Louisiana State Police know our only mission is to protect, serve, and enforce the law,” read the third sentence in the letter.

Apparently, they forgot to include beatings and then texting about how much fun it was.

The letter said the LSTA was “grateful” to its supporters and wants to recognize supporters with LSP’s “official window decal and other gifts.”

For $35, a donor will receive two “official” 2022 LSTA window stickers, two 2022 LSTA Silver Member ID card, and a chance to win a vacation for two.

Bump that up to $50 and you get four window stickers, a 2022 Gold Member ID card, a new 2022 LSTA logo magnet and two chances to win that vacation.

Go all in with a hundred bucks and you’ll get four window stickers (don’t know where you’d put that many), a Gold Member ID card, the LSTA logo magnet, and four chances for that vacation, plus special recognition on the LSTA donation link.

Keep in mind this is the same LSTA that gave the boot to members who questioned the association’s practice of making illegal political campaign contributions – and then sent letters of solicitation to those same former members, seeking monetary donations.

I think I’ll pass my letter along to some of the victims of beatings up in F-Troop. Or maybe to Ashton O’Dwyer.