Lafayette Police Say – If It Doesn’t Look Or Feel Right Call 911

Cpl. Paul Mouton Public Information Officer with the Lafayette Police Department visited 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today and discussed the upswing in holiday crime.

We noted that a caller last week asked City-Parish President Joey Durel what he was doing to halt some of the crimes being committed and Durel said there was no easy answer from government.  Mouton agreed with Durel and said,

That's a good point Mr. Durel brings up.  We the Police Department as well as the Administration are frustrated as well when we see a spike in crime as we've seen in the last couple of months...The public can help by calling 911 when they see something suspicious...if it doesn't look right, if it doesn't feel right it probably isn't right.

Mouton said many times people don't call 911 because the don't want to 'bother' police with something that might be minor.  According to Mouton,

We triage callsas they come.  They're all prioritized and we send officers out as they are available.  Depending on the information presented to the 911 operator.  We'd rather get the information and go out and check it out instead of not going out at all.

Recently a woman was sexually assaulted in a shopping center parking. We asked Mouton how a woman could protect herself in that situation and he replied,

Anytime you're in your vehicle your doors should be locked, whether it's parked, whether you're driving up or as soon as you drive up.  I know some vehicles unlock as soon as you put it in 'PARK' but please program it not to do that...Try to be aware of what's going on around you.  Try to exit you vehicle when other people are around so you won't be alone while leaving your vehicle.

You can listen to the entire interview with Cpl. Mouton by clicking on the link below: