It’s becoming more and more obvious that a Chad Leger-run sheriff’s office would likely not be a simple continuation of Sheriff Mike Neustrom’s legacy of progressive law enforcement. While, for the most part, Leger has sung a similar song of praise for Neustrom’s catalog of diversion policies as his three competitors, he’s begun to more openly stand on a conviction that Lafayette is under-served by current staff and patrol levels within the department, starkly implying that the city is imperiled for it. Scare tactics are not uncommon in any election, but they take on a different immediacy when the implication is one of life and death. Without more cops, the appeal goes, Lafayette is in danger of deteriorating further into a state of criminal war. That’s a troubling proposition indeed. But perhaps more troubling is that Leger seems to have arrived at this conclusion without much to back it up.
