The recent news of the homicide of LaPlace resident Taylor Friloux, who was a 21-year-old manager on duty at the Raising Cane’s restaurant in Kenner, Louisiana, on June 29 took the River Parishes by storm.

It is especially difficult to hear of innocent lives hard at work to earn a living taken from us much too soon by the criminal element among us. The desire for justice runs deep for all who hear the story.

At this time, I am especially grateful to the citizens of St. John Parish who approved a quarter cent sales tax for the Sheriff’s Office in 2013. The tax increase provided funding for increased pay for deputies, as well as the purchase of crime cameras throughout the parish.

I bring up this point right now because it was a St. John Sheriff’s office crime camera that captured video of the vehicle here in St. John that had been identified on security cameras at Raising Cane’s in Kenner on that horrific night.

That video allowed Kenner detectives to identify the vehicle and owner, which led to its recovery and subsequent arrests.

This is not the first time Sheriff’s Office crime cameras have been instrumental in assisting deputies with capturing criminals.

In some cases the Sheriff’s Office surveillance cameras have captured videos of criminals wearing hoods or baseball caps while lifting on unlocked door handles during the night. Criminals are still keeping us very busy with unlocked car doors in St. John Parish.

We have tried to advertise in the newspaper, social media, door hangers in subdivisions and at meetings to warn citizens about leaving their cars unlocked or leaving valuables inside their vehicle.

One person told me they felt like they have the right to leave their car unlocked. But, citizens must take some responsibility to protect their property by locking it up.

We have asked citizens to register your personal home security system with the Sheriff’s Office. This only lets us know that you have a system that we could ask you to review if needed.

It does not give us access to your video footage without permission.

Depending on the extent of the crime, if you have not registered your security system with our program, officers may still come to request permission to view your video footage if you have cameras.

I am proud of the coalition that our department has established with the community over the past four years. This has helped us to solve many crimes.

Citizens and law enforcement must continue to work together. This job is not getting any easier, and criminals are becoming more brazen. So to you, the citizens of St. John Parish, I say thank you because more crime cameras would not have been possible if you would have not passed the quarter cent sales tax back in October 2013.

You have been instrumental in helping us capture the criminals responsible for the death of Taylor Friloux, even though you were not aware that you played a part!

After all, it’s about teamwork these days!

Mike Tregre is sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish. He can be reached at sheriff@stjohnsheriff.org.