| Advisory Opinion request regarding Lieutenant Champagne of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office gaining secondary employment with an LLC. |
|
Lieutenant Derek Champagne (Lt. Champagne) has been employed by the
Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office ("LPSO") since 2009 and currently holds the
position of Narcotics Section Supervisor.
As a Lieutenant for LPSO, his duties include:
·
Monitoring facilities, equipment, personnel, and
shift activities for the occurrence of inefficiency and misconduct;
·
Preparing reports concerning discipline,
efficiency, and condition of shift personnel;
·
Assisting in the completion of performance
evaluations for all personnel assigned to your section;
·
Submitting reports to supervisors and recommends
disciplinary action or changes in rules governing activities of assigned
personnel;
·
Transmitting orders from commanding officers to
assigned personnel;
·
Taking command of assigned personnel during
narcotics related investigations
·
Recommending the initiation of "civil
forfeiture" proceedings on equipment, materials, and items seized in drug
arrests; and completing necessary reports to facilitate proceedings;
·
Maintaining lines of communication with
confidential informants; and, taking necessary precautions to ensure the
anonymity and personal safety of informants;
·
Assisting in the formulation of section
procedures, personnel requirements;
·
Assisting in the formulation of policies and regulations
of LPSO; and,
·
Providing training to newly appointed personnel
assigned to your section.
He does not teach surveillance classes
to any member of LPSO as part of his official duties as a Lieutenant.
Lt. Champagne was recently asked to join the faculty of a newly formed virtual training academy
called 21st Century Cop Academy, LLC ("21st Century Cop").
The LLC has applied for but has not been approved yet.
The
goal of the training academy is specifically for agencies seeking to leverage
video surveillance as a force multiplier. The training academy will create
content for agencies on the use of the equipment and programs, site
considerations, methods of deployment, success and failure stories, and how and
when to use video to help make cases and secure convictions. His role would be
to create virtual and live based training content on surveillance to be used in
training for agencies worldwide. In addition to creating content, he will also
be asked to participate in site-based training courses where demonstrations and
practicable applications will occur.
The
creators of the academy are Smart Body Wire Technologies, LLC, which is owned
by Ray Edwards. Smart Body Wire Technologies, LLC is a leading provider of
advanced surveillance solutions for law enforcement and public safety agencies
across the globe. Based in Atlanta ,Georgia, the experienced team leverages
hardware and software to create AT driven video-based surveillance platforms.
The owner of Smart Body Wire Technologies, LLC will not be affiliated with 21st
Century Cop.
LPSO conducted business in the past with LENS
equipment, which is a distributor for Smart Body Wire Technologies, when LPSO purchased
equipment from the company.
LPSO has never done any other business with 21st
Century Cop or Smart Body Wire Technologies, LLC and there is no plan for 21st
Century Cop or Smart Body Wire Technologies, LLC to do business with LPSO in
the future.
|
|
La. R.S.
42:1111(C)(1) No public servant shall receive any thing of economic value
for any service, the subject matter of which:
(a)
Is devoted substantially to the responsibilities,
programs, or operations of the agency of the public servant and in which the
public servant has participated.
La. R.S. 42:1111(C)(2)(d): No public servant and no legal entity in which
the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of
twenty-five percent, shall receive any thing of economic value for or in
consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person
during his public service unless such services are:
(d) Neither
performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would
be prohibited by R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B) from receiving a gift.
La.
R.S. 42:1115A. No
public servant shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, anything of
economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer,
director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or
reasonably should know that such person:
(1)
Has
or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business
or financial relationships with public servant's agency.
|
|
|
Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
|
|
| Assigned Attorney: |
Mallory Guillot |
|
|