Howell Dennis/Crowley Post-Signal
During Acadia Parish Sheriff KP Gibson’s campaign, one of his promises was to make the parish’s top law enforcement agency transparent for the citizens they are paid to protect.
The release of office’s 2016 Annual Report is the most recent effort that suggests that he intends to do just that.
In what is the first of its kind from the Acadia Sheriff’s Office, the report details the work they’ve done over the 2016 calendar year, detailing subjects like investigations and arrests, fighting the narcotic’s trade, the 911 office’s statistics and the office’s budget.
The report is a message from Gibson that he wants parish residents to know specifically how his deputies are attacking crime and how effective they have been over the past year. It also breaks down in detail how Acadia residents’ tax dollars are being spent.
Following the embezzling scandal involving former Public Information Officer Maxine Trahan during the former administration, the report also seems to be a message to Acadia residents that Gibson’s office has nothing to hide when it comes to how effective they have been in fighting crime, as well as how his office is utilizing their tax dollars.
“Our goal at the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office is to keep people aware of what’s taking place,” Gibson said. “This is Acadia Parish’s Sheriff’s Office. To keep you informed helps us to serve you.
“The annual report is issued as a better effort to keep the public informed.”
The report follows other initiatives started under Gibson’s tenure, such as Coffee with the Sheriff, that display the sheriff’s office’s recent pattern of reaching out to the public in an effort to develop a stronger relationship between them and his deputies.
“Fighting crime is much easier when the residents are proactive in reporting things they witness or have knowledge of,” said Gibson. “We want them to know that we are fighting for them and we want them to see our results.”
The report is available at various businesses within the parish such as convenience stories and those businesses that are family-run within the parish, according to Gibson. He also states that it will available online via the sheriff’s office website – apso.org.