Running for Office: Gonzales Police Chief
Advocate staff report
October 22, 2012
GONZALES — Glynn LeBlanc has announced that he is seeking to be the city’s next police chief, vowing to bring “strong, ethical and compassionate leadership” to the Gonzales Police Department.
LeBlanc is one of two challengers who qualified against incumbent Chief Sherman Jackson. Duane Carpenter also is in the three-man race for the Nov. 6 election. A runoff, if necessary, will be held Dec. 8.
“We have the best-paid police officers in the state of Louisiana, and there is no reason we shouldn’t have the best department,” LeBlanc said. “You deserve no less.”
LeBlanc, a graduate of East Ascension High School and LSU, has 19 years of law enforcement experience — eight years with the Gonzales Police Department and 11 years with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office. He also runs a business that specializes in computer forensics and is lead instructor at the National Computer Forensic Institute.
If elected, LeBlanc said, he would make sure the city’s Police Department is professional and well-trained, adding that he would focus on eliminating waste and mismanagement. He said he would put more patrolmen on the streets to control speeding, especially in residential areas, and would aggressively pursue drug dealers.
“I will reinstitute cooperation with the Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force and have an officer commissioned to the Ascension Sheriff’s Office task force, as no officer from the GPD currently serves on this vital, anti-drug team,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc also pledged to enforce a “zero-tolerance policy for corruption” and said he would work to enhance training programs for officers focusing on ethics, diversity, driving and other aspects of law enforcement.
“I am running for police chief because I can provide better leadership,” LeBlanc said. “I know what needs to be done and more important, I know how to do it.”