Pictured above from left: Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris, Officer McCloures Manuel (Top Cop #4), Franklin Police Chief Sabria McGuire and Captain Tina Thibodaux pose at the Lamp Post in Franklin for the St. Mary Chapter of MADD’s Top Cop ceremony, Thursday.
Pictured above: State Police Troop I, Troopers Todd Pellerin and Trooper Scott Verret received certificates of merit and appreciation on behalf of the St. Mary Chapter of MADD, Thursday evening at the 2017 Top Cops ceremony, in Franklin. As the troopers patrol across parish lines, it is impossible to quantify the number of DWI arrests Troop I made in 2017 in St. Mary Parish. Though, it is understood that the number would appreciably add to the St. Mary Parish law enforcement total of 187 DWI arrests for the year of Nov. 2016 to Nov. 2017.
Morgan City cleaned up at the St. Mary Chapter of MADD’s Top Cops ceremony Thursday, claiming five of the 11 honors for 2017 impaired driver arrests. Pictured above from left are: Captain Betty Augman, Assistant Morgan City Police Chief Mark Griffin, Officer Chad Ledet (Top Cop #1), Officer Josh Ashley (Top Cop #2), Officer Brandon Billiot (Top Cop #3), Officer Tyler Crouch (Top Cop #6), Officer Josh Hudson (Top Cop #8), Morgan City Police Chief James Blair and Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi.
The St. Mary Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored the parish’s 2017 Top Cops Thursday, during a ceremony for the occasion. From the parish Sheriff’s Office, pictured from left: Chief Deputy Scott Anslum, Deputy Dustin Kennedy (Top Cop #9), Deputy Matthew Moore (Top Cop #7), Parish President David Hanagriff and Major John Kahl.
Top Cops
St. Mary Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving held their 20th annual Top Cops honors at the Lamp Post on Thursday in Franklin.
The guest speaker for the evening was former Sheriff David Naquin, and the event was attended by every parish law enforcement entity.
The St. Mary Chapter of MADD compiled the list of Top Cops by reviewing arrest records for the seven law enforcement agencies in the parish for the period of Nov. 1, 2016 to Nov. 1, 2017.
Records for Morgan City, Berwick, Patterson, Franklin, Chitimacha, and Baldwin police departments, as well as the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office showed a total of 187 arrests recorded for driving while intoxicated. This reflected an increase of 25 arrests from the previous year.
The nine officers with the most DWI arrests were honored as the Top Cops of the parish.
Officer #9 was Sheriff’s Office Deputy Dustin Kennedy, with six arrests. Officer #8 was Morgan City PD Officer Josh Hudson, with six arrests. Officer #7 was Sheriff’s Office Deputy Matthew Moore, with six arrests. Officer #6 was Morgan City PD Officer Tyler Crouch, with seven arrests. Officer #5 was Berwick PD Officer Quentin Menard, with seven arrests. Officer #4 was Franklin PD Officer McCloures Manuel, with eight arrests. Officer #3 was Morgan City PD Officer Brandon Billiot, with 10 arrests. Officer #2 was Morgan City PD Officer Josh Ashley, with 12 arrests. Officer #1 was Morgan City PD Officer Chad Ledet, with 24 arrests.
A candlelight vigil was observed, to honor the victims of intoxicated drivers.
The ceremony was attended by State Police Troop I troopers as well. However, it was impossible to quantify their parish-wide DWI arrests. So, they were not added to the parish-wide tally for the year. Though it was noted that had the troopers’ arrests records been added to MADD’s parish DWI arrest tally, the results would have been markedly increased.