Elizabeth West/Ville Platte Gazette
VMayor Jennifer Vidrine, for the first time, publicly addressed the Department of Justice’s report citing the Ville Platte Police Department for performing illegal investigative holds”at a City Council meeting on Jan. 17.
Vidrine said, “When I read this report, it rocked me to my core. It hurt my heart to know that Ville Platte citizens were going through this. I see where actions were taken in the name of the law, but it violated the heart of the law, which was justice. This is not who were are.”
The actions the mayor was referring to were 700 hundred arrests between the years 2012 to 2014 that were performed by the police without probable cause or a warrant to arrest an individual, which the justice department determined was a violation of someone’s Fourth Amendment rights.
Vidrine said, “We want the public to know that going forward, these actions are no longer occurring. I did meet with the chief and he has assured me that the actions cited in this report are no longer taking place.”
During the meeting, Arthur Sampson, who claims to have personally experienced the actions cited in the report, addressed the mayor, council, and Chief of Police Neal Lartigue concerning this matter.
“We are treated like second class citizens here,” said Sampson. “They go back from 2012 to 2014 and some of y’all were here knowing that this was going on because I myself have made complaints. I have been arrested right here because of a complaint I made for a little kid, which is one of the 30 kids that is mentioned in the report.”
Sampson then expressed his frustration with the situation at hand stating, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired about the injustice going on here.”
The Ville Platte native then added, “I’m not an attorney, but I do know the law. One thing about it is when you do become a law enforcement agent the first thing they teach you should be the Constitution of the United States of America. That should be the first thing that officers learn.”
Sampson went on to say that people haven’t spoken up before because “they are scared of retaliation.”
Once Sampson finished speaking, councilman Bryant Riggs took a moment to address some of the things that Sampson said.
“There will be no retaliation,” Riggs said. “Because, when you come in front of this council and you make it public record then the whole public knows. So, if retaliation comes to you, the public will know it came to you because you came up here and spoke your voice.
“If Martin Luther King would have been afraid to talk then we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
The councilman then shared his own personal experience dealing with police retaliation.
Riggs said, “I have been a police officer and in the military, but I’ve been behind cuffs also. In 1996 I was a victim of police retaliation, and I didn’t do anything wrong. I was followed. I was pulled over, and they tried to give me a DWI and I wasn’t even drinking.
“When they brought me to the station and I blew in the test, it came back with all zeros. They didn’t know what to do. But guess what I did? I made my complaint.”
The council purchased 25 body cameras.
Before the mayor finished addressing the crowd concerning this matter Vidrine reminded everyone that not every police officer officer has acted above the law.
Vidrine said, “This report is not indicative of all of our police officers. We have asked for training, because I believe that the most important thing is to have them properly trained here at our facility. The chief has already started training officers as we speak before they are recommended for hiring.”
The mayor also made it a point to request that the public immediately file a complaint directly to the chief if they are not happy with something that has happened.
She then went on to say, “I am going to go further and say that if you have received the results of the investigation with the chief and you are still not happy, come to me. We will see if we can resolve the situation that has happened, because in this city everybody is somebody. It doesn’t matter what race you are or what socioeconomic background you come from. We want to ensure that everyone in our custody is treated with respect and compassion. I will give you my word that this is happening and this is what is going to happen going forward.”