LAPLACE — The debate over ticket writing in St. John the Baptist Parish has gone public with some of the parish’s top leaders sounding off against each other through newspaper articles and television interviews.

The contention stems from Sheriff Mike Tregre’s decision this summer to suspend the Local Agency Compensated Enforcement (or LACE) program, in which the District Attorney’s office funds overtime traffic enforcement details that generate funds for the criminal justice system through fees and fines.

St. John District Public Defender Chief Richard B. Stricks said a lack of funding through the program could force people to sit in jail longer through case delay.

District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut said the funding shortage has the potential to cripple the parish’s criminal justice system.

Although aware of the funding LACE provides to other agencies, Tregre said the safety of the public and his deputies remain his top priorities, which is why he stands by the decision to suspend the program.

Dinvaut said she is trying to convene a meeting of local judges, her office, Stricks, the clerk of court and Tregre to resolve the matter.

Tregre said he welcomes the dialogue.

“I’ll meet privately or publicly at this point; everybody already knows this,” he said.

“I’m not trying to hurt any other government entities. I have no interest in seeing the criminal justice system fail or suffer.”

LACE

Dinvaut said she was made aware of a criminal court fund deficit of more than $280,000 shortly after taking office nearly two years ago.

To combat the issue she said the District Attorney’s office signed LACE agreements with Louisiana State Police and the Sheriff’s Office to fund extra details where officers focus on traffic enforcement, primarily on Interstate 10 and Interstate 55.

A portion of the fees and fines paid by the resulting traffic offenders helps fund numerous aspects of the criminal court system.

The traffic enforcement shifts are operated in addition to deputies’ regular shifts and are funded through the D.A.’s office.

St. John Clerk of Court Eliana DeFrancesch told the New Orleans Advocate her office logged an average of more than 1,900 monthly traffic citations from March through June from the Sheriff’s Office and the State Police. The citations dropped to under 1,600 in July, when Tregre suspended the program.

Citations fell to 1,017 in August when only the State Police participated in LACE.

“This situation is concerning for me on many levels because the sheriff is keenly aware of the critical importance of a stable revenue source and a fully funded budget,” Dinvaut said.

Stricks, who runs the parish’s Public Defenders Office, said the lack of LACE revenue cost his department $12,000 (of a projected $64,000 budget) in August and $15,000 this month.

Stricks said he estimates his office handles approximately 90 percent of the parish’s felony court cases.

Stricks said one attorney has already left the office because of funding concerns, adding a continued lack of revenue could restrict services.

“People will sit in jail longer,” he said. “People will have much delayed disposition of their cases; local lawyers who don’t usually handle these kinds of cases may be appointed by the court.”

Stricks stressed the LACE program has nothing to do with his office’s workload or caseload.

“We’re funded in a completely irrational way and that is a legislative (concern,)” he said.

“That is not a problem with the Sheriff, not a problem with the State Police, not a problem with the District Attorney’s office.

“That is something the legislators need to address. But until they do, it is all on the Sheriff to do that traffic enforcement, which has other law enforcement and safety consequences. A lot of drugs, guns and other criminal activity is uncovered during those traffic stops. So stopping traffic enforcement not only leads to speeders and traffic collisions and traffic deaths, but it also results in a drop-off of apprehension of other criminal actors that are apprehended during these traffic stops.”

Burden

Tregre said he does not know how the system came about to depend so greatly on traffic tickets for projected revenue, but added it puts a “tremendous burden” on the Sheriff’s Office, which he said has done its part to help other government entities.

The sheriff referenced the domestic terror attack St. John suffered in 2012, which led to the shooting deaths of two local deputies, as something he is keenly aware of in the wake of recent police killings in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

“As of this past weekend, it has not slowed down across this country,” he said. “There is always a threat. The officers are being made aware of these other nationwide incidents and it is still fresh in our minds what took place with officers being killed recently.”

He pointed to deputies’ heavy workload, unsafe conditions and spotty communication near Ruddock as factors in LACE’s temporary suspension. He has not announced when the suspension will end.

Tregre said local 911 communications fielded a call the day of the Baton Rouge police killings reporting a motorist was stopped on I-10 in St. John Parish brandishing a submachine gun.

Tactical response from the Sheriff’s Office ultimately deemed the call a false alarm, but Tregre said the sequence symbolized the dangers local deputies face.

Tregre reiterated he is open to meeting with all parties involved to come to a LACE agreement, adding other sources of revenue should be considered for criminal court funding, including what he said was approximately $2 million in uncollected fines and fees.