It all starts at home: Houma area gathering takes a stand against violent crime

Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman said when he visits his childhood neighborhood wearing his badge, he sometimes gets a cold reception.

After Coleman was appointed as Houma’s first Black police chief seven years ago, he said his community began to view him differently.

“I can go where I grew up in Mechanicville and a door would be closed in my face,” he said. “But I can show up without that uniform and be welcomed. It’s heartbreaking that as a police chief, 85% to 90% of the violent cases that I’ve had my hands on involve victims and suspects that look like me. In law enforcement, we handle complaints, but we need help from the community as well.”

Coleman was one of several speakers during a town hall meeting Saturday in Gray addressing violent crimes affecting Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

Organized by Terrebonne Councilman Carl Harding, the Unity in the Community gathering aimed to “raise awareness and promote prevention, encourage community engagement and foster meaning partnerships” to battle crime.

The forum included presentations from law-enforcement officials in Terrebonne and Lafourche, community leaders and local attorneys who all share the same goal to reduce crime.

The best way to stop crime is to address it before it happens, officials said.

More: Houma man charged with murder in Bayou Blue shooting death

Thibodaux City Marshal Calvin Cooks said that process begins at home.

“I tell all parents, be a parent, not your child’s friend,” Cooks said. “If you see that your child has brand-new shoes or a watch, you know they didn’t buy that. You need to investigate why they have it. Some of these kids are paying the bills for mom and dad so they look away. That’s a problem. Wrong is wrong and right is right. We need to start governing our children, and that’s where it starts.”

Harding said the relationship between police and residents must be repaired so both sides can work together.

“I just happen to be a concerned citizen that has a passion for the people,” Harding said. “I’m more Christian than I am politician. We’re trying to bridge the gap and bring the community together. As a community, we sometimes look at law-enforcement officers negatively. But what about the dead bodies? What about the mothers, daughters and sons affected by crime in our community? We’re trying to bridge the gap in our community because I just can’t stand to be intimidated in my own neighborhood where my mother has to walk the streets. We want to take back our community.”

Terrebonne Sheriff Tim Soignet said a victim of a violent crime is not the only party that suffers.

“There’s always two victims when a young person commits a violent act,” Soignet said. “The action they take causes their own families to be victims because they get incarcerated for a long time. We have to be compassionate on both sides and try to break through to the younger generations to prevent them from making these mistakes.”

More: Man shot and wounded while searching for stolen ATV in Thibodaux neighborhood, police say

The ongoing pandemic, recovery from Hurricane Ida and high prices for gasoline and food have caused an uptick in crime across the board, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said.

“People with addiction are stealing a lot more,” Webre said. “We’ve seen a recent uptick in thefts of property, thefts of precious metals and thefts of catalytic converters. The social isolation created by 2 ½ years of COVID-19 and the impact of Hurricane Ida have exacerbated this problem of people turning to illegal narcotics and are taking things they don’t recognize that could take their lives.”

Webre also called for an end to what he calls the “Mafia mentality” when dealing with violent crime.

“People want to handle things within themselves rather than work with authorities to solve problems,” he said. “You add to that the effects of social media and the ability to post a video in Thibodaux that’s disrespectful and offensive to someone in Houma or Bayou Blue and that escalates to violence.”

Coleman challenged attendees to start working with police rather than against them.

"We can’t do this by ourselves," he said. "Let’s come up with a solution.”

— Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanVCopp.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Forum focuses on curbing crime in Houma, Thibodaux area