Deputies with the Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office were deployed to assist in the hurricane recovery efforts in Louisiana.
By Captain John Welch
It’s been a long day. Very hot and humid. We were assigned to work two-man teams with St Charles S.O. Units on day shift today. It was a great experience and our team meshed very well with their personnel.
The day started with the agency wide briefing at 0500. We were advised at the start of the briefing that a Santa Rosa County resident (who was currently in St Charles Parish) had stabbed another man during the overnight hours while engaged in some type of disturbance. We immediately began working with their detectives and provided intel and background on the suspect. Approximately 30 mins after breaking from the briefing, the suspect was located in the immediate area of the crime. Santa Rosa S.O. units responded along with St Charles Parish S.O. to assist at the scene. The suspect was immediately quite shocked and bewildered upon the sight of Santa Rosa Deputy Sheriff Tolliver and Sgt Teichner, who know him from previous interactions in our county (Milton District). They assisted in getting him secured and transported to the Sheriff’s Office. The St Charles Parish S.O. was appreciative of our efforts and assistance. This first part of the shift could not have been scripted the way it evolved even if we could try.
The day progressed with numerous other calls ranging from assists to citizens, finding a man passed out in the roadway in an area on the bayou that was completely devastated by the hurricane, to helping to remove a nuisance alligator from a neighborhood.
Sergeant Teichner, Sergeant Nelson and I networked with several of their agency supervisors throughout the day to get a better handle on the current situation throughout the Parish. We traveled nearly the entire county at various times to see how our personnel are and will be deployed.
The work being done by our team is definitely noticed by the St Charles Parish S.O.; specifically our assistance with the capture of the stabbing suspect. Our team was commended at the night shift briefing. Sheriff Champagne also spoke to us later about this assistance.
We concluded our day with the official “oath of office” ceremony this evening which was administered by Sheriff Champagne.
