BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Baton Rouge Police Chief, Thomas Morse Jr., has been in his current position since January. On Monday, Mar. 4, Morse continued to introduce himself to the community. This time at a meeting at the Jones Creek Library in District 8.
“I want all the voices. I want all the voices internally. Hey, what can I do for y’all? Was your training person, now I’m your chief,” Morse said.
Some people living nearby said they’re concerned about safety. A person who attended the meeting asked, “So, what exactly do we need to do as far as getting cameras up there? Or, what, what is it, what is it we need to do? I’m vice president of our HOA, what do we need to do to get something handled?
Others like Councilwoman Denise Amoroso said they still have questions about how the department is handling the “Brave Cave” scandal and people who re-offend once they get out of jail.
“What’s happening with those that have been arrested? Are they letting them go? Are they keeping them in jail?,” Amoroso asked.
Morse said police are doing their job and it’s up to other parts of the justice system to keep people in jail longer.
He also mentioned how police have been focused on tackling violent crime. The new chief said his biggest priority is keeping people from getting in trouble.
“We can’t track every single one of them. Since we arrest them, we don’t really have any other say except when it comes to testifying in court,” Morse said. “Between 500 and 600 felony arrests so far this year and we just started March. Our suspects are getting younger and younger and younger. So, we need to reach out to these juveniles and give them different options, give them better resources so they don’t turn to these lives of crime.”
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