Top Shreveport Cop Asks Tough Questions About SHV and BC Cops

Marcus Mitchell, Chief Administrative Assistant for the Shreveport Police Department, caused a great deal of reaction to a pair of Facebook posts over the past few days.

Mitchell, a veteran of more than ten years on the SPD, posted the following question on his FB page Monday morning:

"When y'all say "Bossier Police Don't Play", what do you mean by that?

Please elaborate."

And the Mitchell interrogative elicited some interesting responses:

"...with the current climate in our city, yes. If the police are present, THEN we can call them jerks for how they handled a situation. But response time and availability is lacking. Not y’all’s fault but it’s their's"

"When crime gets out of hand, police can loosen their collars a little and become a little less professional, respectful, reasonable, and relatable? Are we accepting of that as the standard?"

" I will certainly stand on the fact that I have only experienced disrespect from SPD and by disrespect I mean a total lack of concern accountability and sheer professionalism. I don't mean to bash the department as a whole, this has just been the case whenever I have encountered these officers as a complainant."

"We do not like how they play. Not me, anyway. But they have a much smaller area and populace to deal with and definitely seem better funded. IMO, they are very heavy-handed."

Then, last evening the CAA posted again:

"So, now that we've explored the differences between BCPD and SPD:

Are there any differences between Bossier CITIZENS and Shreveport CITIZENS that impact policing and/or crime? If so, what are they?"

And the responses to Mitchell's second question were just as opinionated:

"...I can see that there's a level of respect for their department that Shreveport definitely does not have, because they are known to solve a crime within 24-48hrs or the 'they don't play' statement supports it...but that's just my opinion."

"I think Bossier has a majority of citizens that support law enforcement, whereas Shreveport has a larger proportion of citizens with a negative idea/opinion of law enforcement as a whole."

"I believe the biggest difference between Shreveport and Bossier is the size of low income areas. Shreveport has more low income neighborhoods encompassing large areas of Shreveport. Statistically speaking, low income areas tend to have more crime, and definitely more violent crimes."

"The difference is race majority and socioeconomics. Plus Shreveport is three times the size of Bossier. That’s definitely a major factor."