Mayor Broome highlights EBR public safety investments at inaugural Louisiana Public Safety Summit

Baton Rouge, LA - February 16, 2024 - Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome welcomed Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, along with East Baton Rouge law enforcement, business, and community leaders, to the inaugural Louisiana Public Safety Summit today, hosted by the East Baton Rouge Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) at the Hilton-Capitol Center in downtown Baton Rouge.

Sharing examples of her administration's critical investments in public safety over time, Mayor Broome emphasized the importance of the community standing together to improve public safety. She spoke of her three-pronged approach in that fight: supporting law enforcement, community-based strategies, and addressing mental health needs.

Over the past five years, Mayor Broome's office has helped launch and provide more than $1.4 million in ongoing operational funding for CJCC's collaborative efforts to reduce violent crime and advance justice in this region. Beyond the Mayor's office, CJCC's supporters include the 19th Judicial District Court, the Baton Rouge City Court, the Baton Rouge Police Department, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, and the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office.

"Our mission has been clear," Mayor Broome said, "to improve policies and procedures through data-driven collaboration, to decrease violence, and to make our City-Parish stronger and safer."

Mayor Broome's office provided $200,000 to the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's office this year to help clear up the backlog of DNA samples awaiting processing in pending criminal cases. Today, she announced her request to the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council to approve an additional $200,000 to EBR District Attorney Hillar Moore's office to help clear remaining DNA backlogs so that those cases can go to trial more quickly.

Mayor Broome's administration gave $310,000 to the EBR DA's office to assist in reducing fentanyl overdose incidents and has also increased funding and office space for the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Defender's office. Additionally, Mayor Broome's Safe Hopeful Healthy BR staff and community volunteers have worked tirelessly to assist EBR schools in fighting truancy, a critical indicator in the work to stem juvenile crime.

"We've seen encouraging trends over the past two years in our crime statistics here in Baton Rouge," Mayor Broome said, "but we still have much work to do. For us to be successful in making Baton Rouge the strongest and safest mid-sized city in the country, it will take all of us standing shoulder-to-shoulder in this work."

Learn more about the East Baton Rouge Criminal Justice Coordinating Council: https://www.ebrcjcc.org/.