The St. Landry Crime Stopper Board is going to pay people up to $100 if the submit a tip about a litter bug results in an arrest or conviction, according to St. Landry Parish Sheriff Maj. Mark LeBlanc, Crime Stopper coordinator.
“We just had a Crime Stopper board meeting right before I came here,” he said at the Eunice city council meeting Tuesday. “They agreed to pay up to $100 for a tip that leads to a citation, which is going to be an arrest or conviction. They’re just overwhelmed that we don’t know how big this is going to get.”
LeBlanc brought the Crime Stopper program to battle litter and dumping in the parish to the Eunice meeting. On Nov. 6, he introduced the program to the Parish Council, but the reward of up to $100 was new for the Eunice meeting.
The program may began by spring 2025.
“I wanted to utilize that successful program to go after another problem that I don’t think there’s a single person in this parish that would disagree with me. It’s a massive issue and that’s trash dumping littering in all forms,” he said.
LeBlanc said Parish Council member Ernest Blanchard, of Eunice, gave him tour of the Eunice area prior to the city council meeting.
“I saw beautiful old homes, manicured lawns, landscaping. I mean the envy of any city anywhere in this nation and. it was nothing but trash in the ditches, along wooded lines, along the fence line of rural property, which is just an absolute disgrace,” he said.
“I feel like despite the best efforts of every city government, parish government, Solid Waste Commission, all of these people that are vested with it, despite their best efforts, it’s like we’re trying to eat that elephant with a toothpick and we’re not making any headway,” he said
“So, utilizing Crime Stoppers and its successful program, I want to start ‘Stow It, Don’t Throw It’ campaign where we get the word out to the citizens that if they see littering and they can document, photograph, video, date, time, stamp, vehicle information, license plate, the law allows a citation to be written on that, he said.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has agents dedicated to enforcing laws against litter and they are eager to help, he said.
“There’s no single law enforcement agency in this state, to include the Louisiana State Police, that has enough manpower to write citations on all the potential littering tips,” he said.
Fines for gross littering, which includes large items such as tires and appliances, the first conviction fine is $900, he said. The person is also responsible for cleaning up the trash, he said.
Intentional littering of a cigarette butt can result in a $300 fine and if it is accidental that can be a $150 fine, he said.
St. Landry Parish and its municipalities have a limited number of law enforcement officer, he said. “But we have 90,000 citizens. And I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of them own one of these. And it has a camera on it. And they can submit an anonymous tip. They don’t have to jeopardize themselves,” he said.
