Critics: Louisiana State Police culture broken

Carl Cavalier worked hard to earn his blue-and-gold Louisiana State Police uniform, and wore it with a deep pride.

"Union, Justice and Confidence," he says, reading the motto on the shoulder patch.

But for the Black man, those words don't carry as much weight as they used to.

"I liken it, the motto on this patch to the core values in state police," he said recently from his home in Houma. "It seems like we all forgot the core values. It seems like most of us have gotten away from the core values."

Cavalier was recently fired by the LSP for violating orders, seeking publicity, disloyalty and conduct unbecoming an officer. But the Medal of Valor recipient says he was sacrificed for attempting to expose a culture that tolerates racism, covers up brutality and rewards silence.

"They're just mad that I'm not joining in with the blue wall of silence," he says. "If you're a part of the good-old-boy system, there's no WRONG you can do."

Cavalier's allegations are emblematic of what dozens of current and former troopers described to The Associated Press as an atmosphere of patronage, impunity and, in some cases, outright racism. Amid a federal civil rights investigation into the 2019 beating and death of a Black motorist by several state troopers, some say the organization is hopelessly broken.

"After a while, you begin to wonder, where are the honest people, and why aren't they standing up to be counted?" says former federal agent W. Lloyd Grafton.

The AP has found that, over the last decade, troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings and impeded efforts to root out misconduct in at least a dozen cases, several of which were captured on body-camera video.

Initially, the agency told Ronald Greene's family that he died in a crash following a high-speed chase. But body-cam footage the AP obtained in May shows that Greene was beaten, stunned and dragged by his shackles as he pleaded for mercy.

"Well, it's a sad scenario," says Grafton, who is acting as a use of force expert on the Greene case. "And it says that the people who tend to be corrupt seem to have the voice."

Grafton, a former member of the Louisiana State Police Commission, a civil service oversight board, says the footage state police fought to withhold is proof of the tradition of protecting bad actors because they are "one of us."

"Well, he's not one of us," he said from his home in Ruston, where his office is piled high with case files. "If he's violating the law, he's not a law enforcement officer. He's an outlaw, and he should be weeded out. And we haven't done that, in my opinion."

The Bayou State has long had a reputation of corruption and cronyism as dark and deep as the swamps that pockmark its landscape.

The LSP's problems are apparent as early as the academy in in the state capital of Baton Rouge, where alleged cheating prompted instructors to suggest that an entire class be tossed out.

One of Cavalier's fellow students in the academy Class of 2015 was Jacob Brown, son of retired Lt. Col. Bob Brown, a former second-in-command at the LSP.

The AP obtained a memo in which a sergeant overseeing the class called Jacob Brown "disrespectful and deceptive,"

It said Jacob Brown had "traits of a toxic employee that should not be allowed to continue with his training."

The younger Brown did stay, and graduated.

In September, a federal grand jury indicted him for striking a black motorist 18 times in the head with a flashlight.

"Four of the guys that were named in the unlawful beatings of the motorists were in my academy," says Cavalier.

Col. Lamar Davis, superintendent of the LSP, says he has reorganized his staff, overhauled use of force policies and mandated all troopers attend training sessions on intrinsic bias. But he acknowledges to the AP that it may not be enough to stave off growing calls for a U.S. Department of Justice "pattern and practice" investigation.

Grafton says the corruption is making things more dangerous for all officers.

On a recent Saturday, former Marine Elena Branzaru (bran-ZEH-rah) came out to pay tribute to a trooper who was ambushed in his cruiser. She says a bad few should not tarnish the bravery of the vast majority of good cops.

"Most people run away from gunfire fights," she said as she held American and "Blue Lives Matter" flags in a stiff breeze. "The police run towards these types of actions. And that, to me, is a heroic act, in and of itself."

Cavalier was initially suspended for self-publishing, under a pseudonym, a book titled NWB. It stands for "N-word with a badge," something he says he's been called multiple times during his 11-year law enforcement career.

Cavalier believes that if the troop had moved on some of these other officers as quickly as it did on him, Ronald Greene might still be alive.

"It's just a culture that just needs to be broken up, dismantled and broken down," he says, sitting in front of a painting of a trooper with a noose around his neck. "I don't think the police is at the level of policing itself anymore."

Still, Cavalier is appealing his dismissal. He says the LSP needs more officers of color, people like him.

"We need more officers who have the courage to stand up when they see something wrong," he says, "to say something when they see something wrong."

And to uphold the ideals of union, justice and confidence.