Trash Stoppers Might Help Dumping
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
There might eventually be monetary rewards available for individuals who witness illegal garbage dumping.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Department Major Mark LeBlanc presented that idea to Parish Council members last week as a way of curtailing the amount of litter that he feels is accumulating in rural areas.
LeBlanc referenced the idea that the Sheriff’s Department might be willing to post or broadcast videos of individuals littering or dumping materials on roadsides, similar to what is being done departmentally with alleged criminals whose actions are viewed on the award-winning television editions of St. Landry Crime Stoppers.
Persons who provide information about trash being placed along roadsides could eventually receive monetary rewards, similar to cash that is provided for criminal tips given to authorities through the Crime Stoppers program sponsored by the Sheriff’s Department, said LeBlanc.
“Some areas are not easily monitored since this parish is quite large. There is a camera system that could possibly be provided by the Sheriff’s Department and by using that to show the littering that is going on and the fines that are given out for that could send a strong enough message,” said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc said he sees firsthand the parishwide rural litter problem in St. Landry.
In ditches and property located near the rural subdivision where he lives west of Opelousas, LeBlanc said he normally collects several trash bags of litter. His follow-up inspections of the same areas contain nearly the same amount of litter the following week, LeBlanc added.
During the past several years the Council has been presented during meetings with numerous litter concerns.
Parish president Jessie Bellard said his administration has installed cameras at locations known to be habitual dumping grounds, while the Sheriff’s Department has a roadside litter abatement program that is supported by the Solid Waste Commission.
LeBlanc pointed out that District Attorney Chad Pitre is active in prosecuting every citation for littering, according to the guidelines provided by state law.
LeBlanc said that with a camera system and videos which display alleged incidents of littering parish wide along with a rewards system, that possibly littering could be reduced even further.
“I’ve noticed that in Lafayette Parish, all the elected officials are promoting something like this. St, Landry has the teeth in place to do the same thing,” said LeBlanc.
Any implementation of the littering rewards effort won’t occur until sometime in 2025, LeBlanc said.
