EPSO, VPPD cited for illegal holds

The hits just keep coming for the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office, and this time the Ville Platte Police Department is in the line of fire as well.
On Monday, December 19, 2016, the United States Department of Justice released the findings from an investigation that was performed by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
In the findings it states, “After engaging in a thorough investigation, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) concludes that there is reasonable cause to believe that both the Ville Platte, Louisiana Police Department (“VPPD”) and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office (“EPSO”) have engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct. Both VPPD and EPSO have arrested and held people in jail - without obtaining a warrant and without probable cause to believe that the detained individuals had committed a crime - in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.”
The DOJ also reported that these arrests, called “investigative holds,” have been used by both VPPD and EPSO “as a regular part of their criminal investigations,” and that “both agencies acknowledged that they used holds to investigate criminal activity for as long as anyone at the agency can remember.”
These investigative holds consisted of arresting individuals suspected - without sufficient evidence - of committing a crime, as well as their family and potential witnesses. After being arrested, these individuals are “strip-searched, placed in holding cells without beds, toilets, or showers, and denied communication with family members and loved ones.”
Through their investigation the DOJ uncovered that between the years of 2012 and 2014 the “EPSO initiated over 200 arrests where the only documented reason for arrest was an investigative hold,” while in that same time period the “VPPD used the practice more than 700 times.”
According to the DOJ, “the numbers of holds by EPSO and VPPD is likely even higher; both agencies use such rudimentary arrest documentation systems that the total number of arrests for investigative holds purposes is likely underreported.”
By the end of their investigation, the DOJ reported that their review of both departments revealed that they “lack a consistent and detailed process for recording and tracking information about arrests.” The report then continued, “More comprehensive documentation is necessary to ensure that officers at both agencies comply with constitutional requirements.”
Evangeline Parish Sheriff Eddie Soileau and the VPPD Chief of Police Neal Lartigue realize the issue with the former practice of using investigative holds, and both the sheriff and chief are ready to begin making changes.
Lartigue said, “When we noticed this, we started corrective action right away. There will be no fines against the department or city for this. We are working on creating a more in-depth policy and procedure manual protecting the Fourth Amendment right of the citizens.”
The sheriff plans to move forward in a similar way as the VPPD.
Soileau said, “We are working on the same thing but nothing is definite yet. I will be talking to my attorney and the district attorney about this. This practice is what has been done for the last 40 years, and that is how a lot of officers were trained. That’s how I was trained, so this is going to take some time, but we are working on fixing it. The department of justice was here on Monday and we will be working together on this. It has to be seen about.”