LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- In this week's episode of Acadiana Crimestoppers, members of Lafayette Police sat down in studio to discuss the state of the Lafayette Police Department.

Sergeant Robin Green said Chief Paul Trouard's first mission upon taking office was to grow the department.

"He wanted to enhance the department by bringing in more officers," said Green.

To accomplish this, Green said, the department changed the way they recruit officers.

"He gave our background checks, which is part of the recruiting process, to our Internal Affairs Division, that way our recruiter can focus more on getting out there and reaching people," said Green.

Efforts put in place have worked, as the department is continuing to fill positions and bring in new officers. However, Green said the work is not done.

"Year-to-date, we have actually hired 37 officers as of today," said Green. "We currently have 21 openings."

Green said having this increased manpower helps them to better serve the community.

"It helps with our response time because now we have more officers on the road," explains Green.

The department has also focused on creating new ways to reach the people it serves. Lieutenant Nicole Oakes explained, how the department has recently created a "community engagement" division, structured to give citizens a point of contact to report crimes in their neighborhoods or problems they are facing.

"There are five lieutenants, one that is assigned to each precinct," said Oakes. "We work with council members to address quality of life issues, and handle those, but we also take complaints directly from citizens."

Oakes said this also allows the department to gather more intel and help solve crimes.

"A lot of people are hesitant to call 911 and that's a big message we really want to get out there is that we do need people, really good people, that are in neighborhoods, who care, we need them to reach out and call 911, because without our community, we can't handle any situations," said Oakes.

The department has already seen results, which helps officers to target certain communities where crime is increasing.

"I've been getting emails with videos that I can forward to our detectives, forward to the officers that are patrolling the roads, so that they know that I've put details in place in certain neighborhoods because they're experiencing higher than normal criminal activity," said Oakes.

The contact information of these precinct lieutenants and further details can be found on the Lafayette Consolidate Government website.

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