Patterson votes to require police chief to have high school diploma

PATTERSON, La. (KLFY) – There are a lot of jobs you can't get unless you have a high school diploma or a GED, but you could be the mayor or police chief of Patterson at least if you lived there. Local leaders are asking the people to change that.

Voters in the City of Patterson will soon determine how educated they want their elected officials to be. Should the mayor be required to have a high school diploma, and should the police chief be required to have P.O.S.T. certification?

The minimum qualifications for the police chief as of now are being at least 21 years of age and living in the City of Patterson for a minimum of one year. Mayor changes to 24-years-old and two years in the city, respectively.

The home rule charter of Patterson was drafted in 1993, and according to current Mayor Rodney Grogan, there are a few things it does not consider like just about anyone being able to run for mayor or police chief. That is unless a vote of the people adds two additional requirements.

First, the charter would be amended to require mayoral candidates have a high school level education. "We're not saying you have an associate degree, a college degree, a master's degree, a doctorate. We're saying at least a high school diploma or a GED because I do a lot of reading, and you have to comprehend what you are reading," Grogan explained.

Also on the ballot is a similar amendment for the police chief's office. Requiring P.O.S.T. certification which has a prerequisite of a GED or high school diploma itself. Chief of Police Garrett Grogan admitted, "Anybody can just come off the street and run for chief of police."

With a salary of close to $60,000, Chief Garrett Grogan wants only P.O.S.T. certified candidates interested in running. Already, state law dictates any officer of the law in Louisiana must obtain their Police Officer Standards and Training course within a year, meaning in Patterson's worst-case scenario a new police chief would have to spend over a month out of the office to obtain it. In other words, Chief Grogan said, "That takes that chief away from his daily duties at the office because he has to be in school."

Mayor Grogan agreed, "That person is basically leading and leaning upon the shoulders of those that are in the department and so forth, so why do you want to do trial and error with public safety."

The amendments are only going to the ballot now because of the cost of a special election according to Mayor Grogan. A former councilwoman moved outside city limits and her seat needed to be filled. Mayor Grogan said he would also like to make other changes to the decades-old home rule charter, but they will have to wait.

"Every now and then we go in and we pull some things out, but right now we do feel that it is very important because if somebody is lacking a high school diploma something happened somewhere," Rodney Grogan said. Early voting starts Saturday, March 12 and ends on March 19.