I attended the East St. Tammany Business Alliance recently to hear from Slidell Chief of Police Randy Fandal as he gave a review of many things going on with the SPD these days.
Almost everything from our local law enforcement is good, and I am sure most of you are very thankful to live in St. Tammany Parish where we have incredibly good police work from the city police, the Sheriff’s Office and the State Police. I know that I am.
When the chief started talking about crime in Slidell, and actually the surrounding area, it was still amazing to hear him mention one situation that his officers have their hands tied for. Incredibly as this sounds, and I have heard about this in big cities, there are some national companies that have stores in Slidell and they do not support the police chasing down shoplifters and arresting them.
Some of you have probably heard about this—others of you are probably stunned. In some major cities they will not attempt to make an arrest for anyone who steals under $1,000 of goods, and for some reason I still don’t understand, even in Slidell we have some stores that will not press charges for thefts of several hundred dollars.
Randy, a longtime veteran policeman, made his feelings about it pretty clear in talking to the business group. He said that if a store owner won’t press charges, essentially needing a “victim” in the robbery, then his officers can’t do much. For that matter, some police departments have stopped going on pursuits when a shoplifter runs out of a store and gets into a car to escape.
Slidell officers still do that to the best of their ability. The chief made it clear “we do pursue people, but we have a policy on how to do it property without endangering others. The whole situation is pretty frustrating.”
The reason he especially dislikes the policy by almost entirely national corporations is that shoplifting falls under a category he calls “nuisance crimes,” which includes things like car burglaries, when owners don’t lock their vehicles and thieves walk through neighborhoods pulling on door handles.
In our community and on the North Shore in general we’ve got an entire law enforcement and justice system that has been determined to remain tough on crime—and it’s clear they have done that. So smaller crimes is the first step to criminals beginning to think we might be a place to hit, and the last thing our police want is to be stopped from doing the job they trained for.
I imagine a lot of people don’t even know the shoplifting situation exists, but I assure you it really does. As the chief said, “our message to criminals is that you will get caught if you come to Slidell and try to commit a crime.”
The police in our area are still doing that to the best of their ability, but that’s why it’s amazing to see store owners standing in the way of maintaining a crime-free community. Yet, it’s clear that the more some groups of people are OK with letting these things go on, the more you have to wonder where it all comes to an end.
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If you like to hunt, or you are a supporter of state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, then you might be interested in a flyer I received from Sharon about a fundraising event she is holding as she gears up for the next election.
Her supporters are holding a pheasant hunt with dinner and all the accommodations to be held Thursday and Friday, Nov. 4 and 5, at the Covey Rise Sportsman’s Retreat in Husser, La.
On Thursday there will be the pheasant hunt, then if you decide to spend the night at the retreat there will be a clay shoot on Friday that begins first thing in the morning.
You can stay the night or not, and Sharon’s office has all the details for whatever you want to do at Covey Rise, which is a popular place for hunting and clay shoots.
If you would like to support Sharon then contact Jill at her office through e-mail at:
hewitts@legis.la.gov
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Last call to sign up for the Slidell High Reunion that will be held at the home of Billie Garrett this Saturday, Oct. 30. Billie said the reunion is open to anyone close to the Class of 1971 and since I’m from ’72 I expect to stop by and snap a few shots for the paper.
She and her husband Gran are hosting the event at their beautiful estate off Military Road and the cost is only $50, which includes a polo match to watch in the afternoon, plus food and drinks during the afternoon and into the night.
If you are interested you can show up at 701 S. Military Road this Saturday at 1 p.m. for the afternoon session, or make it by for the evening session starting at 5. You can pay then.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.