Recent very serious criminal incidents in Franklinton offer conflicting emotions.
On one hand, the citizens of this community have been confronted with some absolutely deplorable actions, the sort of horrible stuff that you might expect in a big city, but certainly not in a friendly small town like Franklinton.
But on the other hand, the events that have occurred in rapid succession provide reassuring evidence to the citizens that their local law enforcement is working well.
Franklinton has recently witnessed guns being confiscated at a crowded parade. It has seen a mass shooting of five people later that very same day. It has had neighborhood gunfire that required two local schools for young children to be locked down. A local teacher was arrested for juvenile porno and other offenses after a long and intensive investigation by Franklinton police. And the police department has handled the tragic case of a local mother who is charged with the heartbreaking murder of her 8-month-old baby.
In each of these incidents the Franklinton Police Department responded with both urgency and professional competence. Despite being badly understaffed our local police did not fall back on the excuse of being overworked or short of available officers. No, not at all. They responded quickly to their sworn call of duty, which is protecting and serving the citizens of Franklinton.
For the past few years we have watched with sorrow and dismay as some of our local elected officials have failed to support our police chief and the hardworking officers of the Franklinton Police Department.
The town of Franklinton has a highly professional chief and highly professional officers, and this makes it doubly incredible to us that rather than receiving strong support and well-deserved praise from some of our local elected officials, the police have instead received constant criticism and second-guessing. The chief has seen his authority compromised and has even been briefly relieved of his position. Some of the officers have endured unbelievable screw-ups in their retirement accounts.
Franklinton police officers work long and hard hours for less pay than they could earn by simply driving south of here to St. Tammany Parish or elsewhere. They are here, performing a tough job because they want to serve Franklinton.
It is way past time for some of our local elected officials to wake up and realize that the town of Franklinton is blessed with an outstanding police department, a department consisting of a chief and officers who truly understand what it means “to protect and serve.”
