Louisiana Voice

Apparently, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office in Gonzales is a restricted area.

Especially if you’re an unknown who happens to be carrying a camera.

Never mind that the sheriff’s office, the accompanying grounds and sidewalks and the Ascension Parish Courthouse are all public property. (The only places where cameras are not allowed are the courtrooms themselves and the clerk of court’s office – clerks of court got themselves exempted a few years back from the public records law which allows the free copying of public records because they like to hit you for a dollar a page.)

But back to our story about the sheriff’s office.

There’s this YouTube platform called We the People University operated by a former police officer and former deputy sheriff named Abiyah Israel, who sends crews out across the country to show how law enforcement officers routinely violate citizens’ rights by enforcing non-existent laws.

The undated video, taken from the vantage point of the reporter, was shot outside the office of Sheriff Bobby Webre in Gonzales and even though the reporter is obviously violating no law or ordinance, the presence of his camera apparently spooked officers who confronted him.

You can watch the full video HERE.

While initially met by only three officers of the Gonzales Police Department, their paranoia soon saw their number grow to about half-a-dozen fully uniformed officers demanding to know the reporter’s name and business – though he was under no legal obligation to provide any of that information since no laws had been broken.

There was no immediate explanation of why municipal police were guarding a parish sheriff’s office.

One officer, with the nametag T. Berkholz on his uniform shirt, demanded that the reporter “step off the property” as another, J.B. Dunaway, looked on.

“Step off the property?” the reporter repeated. “Is that a lawful order?”

“Yes, that is a lawful order,” Berkholz replied, repeating his order – even though it was not by any means a “lawful order.”

When the reporter attempted to get further clarification as to what was and what was not public property, Berkholz said, “I’m not gonna answer any more questions.” He then asked if the visitor had any identification.

“What do I need an ID for?” he was asked. “What law have I broken?”

Dunaway spoke for the first time then, saying, “I can tell you right now, this is not usual.”

“It may not be usual,” he was told, “but you’d better start getting used to it because people are going to start doing this more and more often. You’ve gotta learn you can’t be pushing people around like this.”

“What’s your point?” Dunaway asked and other officers began gathering, one of whom was videoing the reporter. Dunaway, meanwhile, adjusted his sunglasses.

“Transparency, accountability,” was the immediate response.

Another city officer, L. Stromberg, along with Berkholz began shouting and getting into the reporter’s face in an apparent effort to intimidate him. “Are you from Louisiana?” asked Stromberg – as if that was even relevant.

“I don’t answer questions,” the reporter said.

“There’s a law in Louisiana that says you have to identify yourself,” Stromberg said. There is no such law.

More officers and/or deputies began arriving, though no one seemed really sure what to do about this upstart in their midst. Mostly they just milled around, some with their thumbs in their multi-functional belts.

More sunglasses adjustments by officer C. Cannon. It seems they adjust their sunglasses a lot, much like Lt. Hortatio Caine on CSI Miami.

Eventually, the officers, after consulting with unidentified individuals (probably legal counsel), more or less backed off and allowed the reporter to enter the building after again cautioning him to remain away from any restricted areas.

Yes, the reporter, whoever he was, was testing the waters to see what deputies’ reactions would be to his videoing the building and yes, some might say he was seeking a confrontation.

But the bottom line is officers took the bait. They had several opportunities to relent and allow him to exercise his rights to be on public property because after all, he had broken no laws and certainly had not caused a disturbance.

Instead, they showed up in force and attempted to invoke non-existent laws in order to intimidate him, prompting the reporter to single out one deputy as needing re-training.

This mindset that a uniform and a badge give one the unbridled authority to run roughshod over citizens’ rights has simply got to change. Law enforcement officers are there to serve the public, not harass, browbeat and otherwise intimidate them with some macho show of force.

That is specifically why I wrote my book Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption. You can order your signed copy by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post and paying $25 by credit card. Be sure to provide your mailing address if you do.