Wicker supports call to study law enforcement consolidation

Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker says she supports Councilman Joel Boé’s call to form a committee in January to study the viability of consolidating the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office. “I definitely want to look at it and look at what the possibilities are,” says Wicker, adding that she will join Boé on the three-member committee. Wicker has researched the pros and cons of unifying the law enforcement agencies before. She was Mayor Bobby Simpson’s assistant chief administrative officer and served as co-chair on Simpson’s Commission on Revenue and Expenditures in 2001, which had recommended consolidation of the police agencies to save costs. City-parish Finance Director Marsha Hanlon recalls the recommendation was “heavily debated” by various commission members because of “numerous challenges” to such an effort. On Thursday Mayor Kip Holden announced the city-parish intends to buy the former Woman’s Hospital campus for housing the police department and sheriff’s office. Boé says such a move would further galvanize the consolidation movement. Councilman Chandler Loupe, who was unavailable for comment today, shared the same sentiment to Daily Report in November. Loupe had pushed the idea of forming a committee to study unification in April 2011, but members were not selected and a meeting never convened. Loupe has said he has no interest in serving on the committee himself. Boé says he’ll likely reintroduce forming the committee later this month for a hearing and vote in January. The Metro Council will likely choose a third member, Boé says. —Adam Pearson