By Misty Castile | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Gov. Jeff Landry wants a seven-person state and federal violent crime task force in Shreveport made permanent.
Officials did not say Monday what it costs, who pays each share, or whether the jobs are new.
The task force brings Louisiana State Police personnel together with FBI agents to receive information from law enforcement agencies across the Shreveport-Bossier City area, investigate violent offenders and develop cases for prosecution.
Landry said he wants the partnership to continue beyond a temporary enforcement operation.
“It is a task force that I intend to work on making sure that it is permanent here in Louisiana,” he said.
Officials did not provide an annual budget, specify each agency’s financial contribution or explain whether the core team’s positions represent new staffing or reassigned personnel.
U.S. Attorney Zachary Keller said the Gun Crime Abatement and Targeted Offender Response Force, known as GATOR, formally began operating July 9. He credited the initiative with 65 arrests, eight resulting in federal indictments.
Keller said the arrangement creates a central investigative team that did not previously exist, even though participating agencies have worked together for years.
“The difference right now with this GATOR force is that we have a central hub of Louisiana State Police,” Keller said, describing task force officers embedded with the FBI.
The seven-person core works with police departments, sheriff’s offices, juvenile services, probation and parole, and other agencies. Keller said combining their information helps investigators identify and pursue violent offenders.
The FBI said GATOR operates under its Safe Streets violent crime initiative, which provides investigative and financial support. State and local officers assigned to the effort are deputized to enforce federal drug and other criminal laws.
Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry Whitehorn committed personnel and investigative support to the partnership.
“We will put deputies, investigators, and intelligence in this task force, and they will stay for the long haul,” Whitehorn said.
Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart said his office has assigned a special prosecutor and other staff to work directly with the task force. State and federal prosecutors also review cases together to determine where charges should be pursued.
Keller said the task force’s work has resulted in the seizure of more than 20 pounds of methamphetamine and the recovery of four stolen vehicles.
He also identified the federal carjacking case against escaped inmate Tre’Veon Jackson as a GATOR investigation. A task force officer prepared the affidavit supporting the federal complaint, Keller said, and the U.S. Marshals Service helped track Jackson to Texas, where he was arrested.
Keller said the task force would continue its work “for months, for years into the future.”