New law creates comprehensive state capitol security police

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A new law passed by the Legislative Assembly and signed by the Governor will create a new Capitol Security Police agency. The bill was drafted by Lafayette Senate Speaker Page Cortez, who says a more consolidated approach to Capitol security has been discussed for years.

“For years, the safety and security of the Capitol grounds was kind of disjointed and left to a number of agencies and there wasn’t a lot of coordination,” Cortez says.

Currently, security in and around the Capitol is provided by the offices of the House and Senate Sergeants-at-Arms, the Capitol Police, the Department of Public Safety, and even the State Police from time to time. Cortez says these different agencies don’t always communicate or coordinate well with each other…:

“…and so we thought—Chairman Clay Schexnayder and I—it would be best if we somehow organized ourselves, and came out a force out of this.”

The Capitol Security Police Agency will begin to take shape immediately; employing up to 24 officers and a chief, who will coordinate with his team and other agencies. The new agency will be funded from the State Capitol’s annual operations budget. Cortez says January 6e The riot in Washington illustrated the need, but the concept of his bill is not new.

“The bill I introduced was a copycat, in many ways, of a bill introduced 12 years ago by then Senator Robert Adley.”

Cortez says they plan to have the Capitol Security Police fully operational before the next legislative session next spring.

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