The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana raided the Grand Isle Police Department last week following a three-phase illegal narcotics investigation
During the course of the investigation -- which has began in 2014 and ended on March 15 -- sheriff's officials were alerted to possible improprieties within the police department, according to WDSU-TV.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said that deputies were undercover during the busts that occurred as part of the investigation and that in some instances, Grand Isle police officers were working against the Sheriff's Office investigation.
"These are just a few examples of what's been uncovered. Some of this has been described to us, some of it not. Obviously this concerns the District Attorney's Office and concerns this office," Normand said during a news conference. "This is just not the way that your business is to be conducted by a law enforcement office, certainly not by a legitimate law enforcement office."
Normand said the secluded community often poses a challenge to undercover investigations and that when he Grand Isle Police Department, he requested a search warrant from the District Attorney's Office.
"In just a very brief period of time, we (are) beginning to uncover some things that are problematic that run contrary to good safekeeping and safeguards and internal controls as it relates to money, as it relates to evidence," Normand said. "We have issues of co-mingling of private property with evidence in the evidence room. Not only by members of the Grand Isle Police Department, but by the chief himself."
The execution of the warrant resulted in the seizure of law enforcement reports, 32 firearms and evidence housed at the police department.
While no arrests have been made in the investigation into the Grand Isle Police Department, Normand said the Sheriff's Office is concerned with the way the police chief and officers have handled evidence, and with protocols and procedures in place.
