By Wesley Harris
Eric Watson, about 10 weeks into his new position as Ruston’s police chief, has already instituted a number of initiatives to deal with ongoing crime issues and improve operations.
Once barren hallway walls at the police station are now adored with motivational posters. A large American flag symbolizing support for Ruston officers graces an exterior wall. Small efforts, Watson says, to change the culture and boost morale.
Among the more tangible changes are some personnel assignments, such as appointing RPD’s first ever chaplain.
Watson named Caleb Brown the department chaplain earlier this month. Watson said he had wanted to designate a chaplain as one of his first steps as a new chief.
Brown will provide emotional and spiritual support to RPD personnel and the community in addition to his duties as a patrol officer.
Brown is a licensed minister and he and his wife Heather are youth pastors at Clark Springs Baptist Church in Ouachita Parish.
Watson’s desire to create transparency and communication with the news media and the public in general led to the appointment of Lieutenant Kayla Loyd as RPD’s public information officer.
Loyd, a 14-year RPD veteran, is a patrol shift supervisor in addition to her public information duties. She will work through the news media, social media, and other avenues to keep the public informed, provide education on crime prevention, and build trust between the department and the community.
Loyd grew up in Lincoln Parish and served five years in the U. S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. She holds degrees in criminal justice and pre-law and is working on a Master’s in Investigations from the University of New Haven.
Watson has appointed Kyle Reeves as a business leader liaison to facilitate relationships with local businesses.
“The first contact with the police shouldn’t be when a crisis occurs,” Watson said.
He hopes to build relationships with business owners, pastors, and others who can serve as a bridge between police and the public.
Two reserve officers recently approved by Watson will be volunteering their time to assist the department.
Watson said other changes to give officers experience in a number of specialized areas will occur over time.
Regarding leadership positions, Watson said a civil service exam is scheduled to test for two deputy chief positions. Once test scores are received, Watson will select a deputy chief to lead the patrol division and a second one to handle the criminal investigations division and some other responsibilities. The chiefs will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of their respective divisions.
One new initiative started almost immediately after Watson’s appointment as chief is a renewed focus on impaired drivers using extra patrols and periodic sobriety checkpoints.
In early April, Watson announced additional patrols would occur to “aggressively searching for drivers under the influence.”
While the department utilized special patrols targeting drunk and drugged drivers years ago, it has been some time since extra officers were brought in to supplement regular patrols.
Watson said the patrols would occur on various nights without notice but that sobriety checkpoints would be announced in advance, but the exact locations would not be given.
The West Monroe Police Department, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Louisiana State Police have partnered with RPD for operate the stationary DWI checkpoints, Watson said.
Watson said West Monroe has been asked to participate because “they have so much knowledge on like how to set it up checkpoints. They have a captain who literally wrote the book on checkpoints. They have so much knowledge on how to set them up at specific locations.”
Motorists charged with DWI account for a significant number of the bookings by area law enforcement agencies at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center from Thursday night until early Sunday morning each week.
Watson recently formed a directed patrol unit to focus on specific, ongoing issues such as continuing vehicle burglaries plaguing Ruston neighborhoods.
“The directed patrol unit operates with a focused mission—strategically deployed patrol based on identified needs,” Watson said. “I work closely with directed patrol supervisor, Sgt. Ethan Williams, along with lieutenants, sergeants, and the Criminal Investigations Division to determine where the unit can be most effectively utilized.”
Officers assigned to directed patrol focus on the problem issue and typically to not respond to calls or other activities that would take away from that mission.
Watson said at present the unit has been directed to concentrate on efforts to deal with the vehicle burglaries.
“The officers assigned to this newly established unit have fully embraced their roles, and Sgt. Williams is providing strong leadership in its development,” said Watson. “As staffing increases, we are optimistic about the potential for the unit to expand and further enhance our proactive policing efforts.”
Watson said the directed patrol unit will be used for whatever issue exists day to day. “For instance, if we have a large event at the sports complex, instead of pulling an on officer patrol, we can use the DPU by adjusting their hours to cover it.”
Watson said the issue most affecting the department’s ability to improve its effectiveness is lack of personnel.
“We have the same number of officers we had thirty years ago,” Watson said. “We can’t sustain long-term improvement with those numbers.”
The chief said the department is working to increase the number of officers, hoping to have five new recruits in a police academy starting in August. He said Mayor Ronny Walker is supportive of the idea of increasing the number officers.
Watson also wants to develop the skills of the current staff by using strategies like job rotation.
“Of the eight supervisors on patrol, only one has worked in criminal investigations,” Watson said. “How can you forge future leaders in your investigative area if none of your supervisors have ever been there? That’s a problem.” Watson intends to establish a program of periodically rotating officers through the criminal investigations division to acquire skills they can use when they return to patrol.
“But again, that’s requires more people than we have right now.”
Other plans in the works entail a significant increase in the use of technology in detecting and investigating crime and considering possible changes in patrol uniforms.
