Louisiana Voice

So, Doug Cain is leaving with his head held high.

That’s nice to know.

Lt. Col. Cain, the second in command at Louisiana State Police (LSP) is retiring after 25 years of “rewarding law enforcement service,” according to the Baton Rouge Advocate.

I suppose it’s rewarding that he was part of the attempted cover-up of the beating death of Ronald Greene in May 2019. He will deny any culpability in that tragic event, but there is this lingering question over why his cellphone was swiped just as the investigation into Greene’s death at the hands of rogue state troopers was heating up.

His phone and those of former LSP Superintendent Kevin Reeves, former LSP Chief of Staff Mike Noel and former LSP legal counsel Faye Morrison were all SANITIZED about the time litigation was being filed over Greene’s death, thus destroying potential evidence in that civil matter as well as a possible criminal investigation.

Any representative of any law enforcement agency, including a local constable’s office, but especially an assumed “professional” department such as state police would know the importance of preserving evidence and the legal implications of destruction of same.

That would especially appear to apply to the residing in-house legal counsel and to the man who harbored the desire to become LSP superintendent – only to retire abruptly after 25 years in the wake of ongoing investigations into the coverup of police brutality and PHONE ERASURES.

That doesn’t present a good look, no matter how high he’s holding his head on the way out the door. It could be that he’s doing so to keep from drowning in a flood of investigations. Some might even conclude that the phone swiping could be considered as obstruction of justice.

Reeves took a powder as soon as he felt the heat but even in retirement, continues to pack, as evidenced by his recent appearance at the June meeting of the State Police Commission – even though there were several well-armed state troopers in attendance.

Kevin Reeves packs heat in ankle holster

We can all take some comfort in the knowledge that there are those within the department who have – and who continue to do so – put forth honest efforts to do the right thing in the Greene matter. The downside of their attempts to shed light on wrongdoings is that they have either resigned or retired in disgust or been suspended by panicky LSP hierarchy.

Make a request for public records and LSP will either send you a stack of redacted pages – and I mean complete pages completely blacked out – or inform you that because no disciplinary action was taken, the records are not public. Either way, you get nothing. Your best hope is that someone on the inside will leak the documents you need, as was the case with LouisianaVoice‘s recent STORY on State Police Academy cheating.

But Capt. Mark Richards, one of those who has since retired in despair over what he’s seen LSP become, is one of those who resisted efforts to keep the Greene incident report secret. Told to block release of the report, he replied via email that he had never encountered such a request from superiors. He subsequently told state legislators that he felt LSP brass wanted release of the report blocked so as to prevent media from obtaining potentially embarrassing material.

It’s not like LouisianaVoice and other media outlets didn’t try to shed some light on State Police years ago.