BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The East Baton Rouge Metro Council takes an in-depth look at the effectiveness of police chases and the enforcement of search warrants.
Council members Darryl Hurst and Cleve Dunn, Jr. are asking BRPD and EBRSO to provide a report on how many properties were destroyed during a search warrant and how many people were injured during a police chase.
This comes amid the public outcry of recent months over the various police tactics and how much harm they are causing to some people.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that her home on Packer Street was searched by police about a year ago. The house was demolished, destroyed and uninhabitable.
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The woman claims she cannot afford to repair the house herself after police refused to pay for it.
The homeowner decided to contact Councilman Hurst with the problem. After hearing about their problem and stories from others in the community, he felt something needed to be done.
“They rip the windows out of houses, they put bombs in houses, they plant other things that end up destroying the house and doing terrible damage,” Hurst said. “The police came in and tore the house apart. It was a run down property and people didn’t have enough money to fix it. It got corrupted and went on the conviction list and now it’s costing even more and the police aren’t paying to fix it.”
Hurst says this woman is not alone and that other people have encountered the exact same problem.
“This is not a slap at law enforcement because they are doing their job to get these potential risks out of the community and put them in a position where the community should feel safe,” Hurst said.
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Hurst says there are cases where people can get compensation if their property is damaged during a search warrant, but that doesn’t always happen.
He wants to review as much data as possible to see what kind of laws they can introduce that can help homeowners, families, the municipality and the police.
“We want to know what we can do, what studies can be done, what research we can do to formulate something that better serves the East Baton Rouge community,” Hurst said.
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BRPD and EBRSO plan to submit their reports to Council next month.
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