Harlan Kirgan
Crime rates during 2017 continued a downward trend that started in 2015, according to Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot.
Fontenot said he cannot say exactly why crime has been dropping since he became chief in 2015.
“What to attribute it to I really can’t tell you. All I know is Eunice has become a safer city the last three years,” he said.
“We did make some minor changes in patrol. We made some changes in response times and there were changes in officers,” he said.
“Now what could any of these have in any direct impact on these numbers is hard to say, but our policing style has changed over the last three years. Again, can I say that is what contributed to the lower numbers? I would like to think it might have, but I really don’t know.”
FBI statistics are reported based on 100,000 population. In 2012 there were 116 violent crimes in Eunice, there 98 in 2013, 123 in 2014, 60 in 2015 and 65 in 2016.
Property crimes were 594 per 100,000 in 2012 and 552 in 2016, according to the FBI.
Fontenot said if there is any change that’s made in the past three years it is in the training officers receive.
“Where they were usually doing what the state minimum required, 20 hours a year, we’ve been average 90 something hours a year per officer of training,” he said.
In 2015, he assigned Lt. Donnie Thibodeaux as training coordinator.
“The officers are more knowledgeable about the jobs that they do and it also increases the morale because when you have knowledge about your job you feel more comfortable about doing it and that will automatically increase your morale,” he said.
“I would like to think we have become a more professional police department,” he said.
The training also tries to keep officers from having an “us versus them attitude,” he said.
“While expecting more respect from the public we are giving more respect to the public,” he said. “I think that has improved our community relations, which could have an effect on our crime rates.”
Statistics compiled by the Eunice Police Department show there were 11,423 complaints in 2014. In 2017, there were 12,534 complaints.
Adult misdemeanor arrests were 246 in 2014 compared to 403 in 2017.
Juvenile arrests in 2017 totaled 134, up from 35 in 2014.
Felony arrests went from 322 in 2014 to 280 in 2017.
DWI arrests in 2014 totaled 45 compared to 36 in 2017.
Arrests for other departments went from 244 in 2014 to 306 in 2017.
The FBI statistics also allow a comparison of cities.
In 2016, violent crime rates included: 65 per 100,000 in Eunice; 107 per 100,000 in Crowley; 117 per 100,000 in Abbeville; and 31 per 100,000 in Broussard.