LAPLACE – LaPlace resident and former St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff’s deputy Steve Guidry has announced his candidacy for St. John Sheriff in the Oct. 22 general elections.

Guidry joins a race that already includes incumbent Sheriff Wayne Jones, former Sheriff’s Office and parish employee Mike Tregre and LaPlace business owner Aaron Lions.

Guidry said in his announcement he is running for the office “because the incumbent sheriff is not capable of running his office in a manner that protects the people of the parish from criminals.” He also said “crime continues to plague the Sheriff’s Office itself with the arrest of several employees and allegations of illegal activity among other high profile employees, including his warden, who has been accused of possible misuse of trustees.”

He added that although there are many outstanding police officers employed by the Sheriff’s Office, crime keeps increasing in the parish “because of a record of constant failures at the top, including failures at providing the management the Sheriff’s Office requires. He has failed at leadership, he has failed at communicating with the community and has failed at deploying the resources of the Sheriff’s Office in a manner that will outsmart the criminals and lead to their arrest.”

“We want safe streets, safe neighborhoods, a safe business corridor and a Sheriff’s Office that works for the entire community to reduce crime and put criminals in jail,” Guidry said.

If elected, Guidry said he would increase the number of police officers on patrol, target drug dealers more effectively, develop and implement more training programs so that police officers can increase their professionalism, create a criminal intelligence division within the Sheriff’s Office, establish a community advisory committee to include area business leaders and work with parents throughout the parish to develop programs to assist young people.

Guidry is a former captain with the Sheriff’s Office, who worked in several divisions during his career, including patrol officer, detective, training officer, communications officer and member of the Special Response Team.

He also spent time overseeing the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility. He has 27 years of experience in law enforcement.

Guidry is also a member of the American Correctional Association, a past member of the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association and a graduate of the FBI National Robbery and Homicide Course.