The Baton Rouge Police Department lost some 80 patrol cars during the recent flood and won’t be able to replace them for several weeks, according to Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie.
“It’s crippling us,” Dabadie said of the loss during a speech today to the Baton Rouge Rotary Club. “We are going to be teaming up.”
Following the speech, Dabadie told Daily Report the loss of vehicles won’t affect the number of patrol units out on the street at any given time. However, officers will have to drive their personal vehicles to and from work in order to ensure there is an adequate number of units on the street.
Dabadie says he has already met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will cover the cost of the lost vehicles, to begin the reimbursement process. He also has found a dealership that can supply the vehicles. He could not say how much it will cost.
“Hopefully, it won’t take very long,” he said, estimating that it will be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month.
Earlier in this speech, Dabadie praised his officers for the long hours they put in during the recent flood. Coming after weeks of protests over the Alton Sterling shooting and the ambush killing of three law enforcement officers, including two BRPD officers, Dabadie said he was worried the flood might push some of his officers to the breaking point.
“They’ve had their guts ripped out, thrown on the ground and stomped on, and they’ve come to work every day,” Dabadie said. “Not only did they show up for work, but I couldn’t get them to go home. They didn’t want to quit.”
BRPD officers alone participated in 200 search and rescue missions. Meanwhile, some 9,000 citizens in the city of Baton Rouge were rescued by BRPD or first responders from one of the dozens of other local and out-of-state agencies that participated in the efforts.
“This was a complete team effort of everyone in Baton Rouge,” Dabadie said. “We had people working 16, 20, sometimes 24 hours to make these rescues.”
—Stephanie Riegel
