Concerned citizens

Ville Platte residents passionately voiced their concerns about the treatment that they claim to receive from city and parish law enforcement agencies during a town hall meeting on Monday night.
More than 150 locals packed into the gymnasium at St. John Baptist Church for a community meeting held by the U.S. Department of Justice to address allegations against the Ville Platte Police Department and the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office for patterns of arresting or detaining people without legal cause.
Back in April, the Justice Department announced the investigation into both agencies, and the meeting held at St. John’s was the first public meeting that members of the community could share their personal stories.
“All we are looking for is that justice be served in the right order,” Ronald Frank told the representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice.
That sentiment was echoed by Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine.
“I was here to mainly hear the comments from the public and to let the Justice Department know that we are going to cooperate 100 percent completely and unequivocally with their investigation,” Vidrine said. “I am operating on the premise that if we are doing something, that comes out in their investigation, that is not right then let us know so we can correct it.”
Michael Songer, an attorney with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, opened the meeting by thanking those in attendance for braving the severe weather and for coming out to the forum. Songer told the crowd that the team has previously conducted reports with the relationships between law enforcement and the community in such cities as New Orleans, New York City and Ferguson, Missouri.
“We will work with the city and parish to help fix the problems,” Songer said.
Songer also said that federal investigators have already begun meeting with officials from both local law enforcement departments. Songer also said that his team’s public report could take anywhere from four months to two years to complete and publish.
“We’ve been needing to have this meeting for a long time,” Rufus Searile said.
The loudest cheers of the night came from Rufus’ nearly 15-minute opening time on the microphone.
“It starts with the Sheriff’s Office and the Police Department, but it ends with the justice system,” said Searile, who informed the panel that he had served an 11-year sentence for a drug crime. “It starts with them (district attorney’s office). They have people in the parish jail right now for crimes they didn’t commit.”
Leiya Thomas took the microphone and talked about how her son has been in custody since the beginning of the year. Frank spoke about the death of his son and how the individual who killed his son had a bond set lower than a typical drug arrest. Local attorney Roy Richard also addressed on how change is desperately needed in the community.
More than a dozen people stayed afterwards to talk privately to Songer and his team (Sharon Brett and Mariam Osmun) in classrooms. More than double that amount filled out paperwork to have Songer and his team contact them at a later time by phone or in person for interviews.
“The way people in this town are being detained needs to stop,” Arthur Sampson said afterwards.
Investigators also set up a hotline and email account for people to provide information. The hotline number is (855) 258-1434 and the e-mail address is Community.VillePlatte@usdoj.gov.
Virdine was pleased with the turnout of people in her city and expressed a desire for everyone to be treated fairly.
“We want to do what is right for everybody. We want to do the right things. We want everyone here to feel safe. We want everyone to feel secure and we want everyone here to feel if and when they are stopped by the police or detained by the police that they will be respected, have a fair trail and all due process will be followed respectfully.”