Amite County supervisors said Monday they are comfortable with the level of staffing for the Amite County Sheriff’s Office, saying cutting traffic gridlock would be the biggest help.
The comments, after Monday’s board meeting, came from District 1 Supervisor Dale Sterling, District 3 Supervisor Jackie Whittington and District 4
Supervisor Travis Taylor.
Taylor said it was unfair to use recent events that have called attention to the issue to characterize the county’s response. The county sheriff’s dispatcher received three 911 calls in a 35-minute span before deputies arrived at the site of a fatal shooting in the Tangipahoa community on April 2.
If the county had more deputies, “it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Taylor said, pointing out that the dispatch route was a 25-mile trip from Gloster.
“You’ll never have enough to fit every need,” Sterling added, “But most of the time Amite County is quiet. How many murders do we have here in Amite County per year?”
Whittington said a four-lane road through the county would do more for law enforcement than any other change, saying deputies are sometimes delayed by vehicles who fail to move out of the way on two-lane thoroughfares.
