Louisiana Voice

One week ago, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Gerald Sticker posted the following message on Facebook following the defeat of a tax proposal aimed at bolstering the sheriff’s department’s financial position:

Well, a week later, it appears the number of patrolling deputies has been reduced to eight:

Former Deputy Arrested on Multiple Charges

HAMMOND (November 21, 2025)- A former deputy has been arrested following an indecent behavior investigation.

Mike Johnson, 61, has been booked on four counts of Indecent Behavior with a Juvenile and one count of Malfeasance in Office. He had been a TPSO deputy for almost 4 years. This week, TPSO received information that during a recent security detail, Johnson had shown inappropriate pictures to juveniles. He was immediately placed on administrative leave, and following a thorough investigation, he was terminated this afternoon and then placed under arrest.

This investigation is ongoing.

Maybe there’s a reason voters reject additional taxes for sheriffs’ offices.

Maybe folks are finally getting fed up with the good ol’ boy way of doing things, especially when unresisting citizens are being beaten, tased, kicked and even murdered by rogue deputies and state police.

Maybe Louisianans are a little skeptical about the so-called need of all these local prisons popping up all over the landscape that are little more than a means to enrichment for sheriffs offices that are paid by the state, by ICE and Homeland Services to abduct, beat and house innocent, hardworking individuals, many of whom are citizens or have legal status.

Maybe it’s time we started asking some questions and demanding some damned answers.