Narcotics combined with other divisions within BRPD to combat crime, drugs

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A spokesman with the Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) confirms that different divisions within the agency have come together to combat violent crime and drugs in the capital city. That spokesman tells WAFB the narcotics division has not been disbanded but an ongoing corruption investigation is ongoing at this time.

”The narcotics division has not been disbanded in any way. Instead these different units within BRPD are joining forces to target violent crime and street level narcotics within the capital city,” said Sgt. L’Jean McKneely.

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One officer will retire after 32 years of service but McKneely says he is a commander of at least five different divisions, including the narcotics division.

”That officer was not in direction supervision of the narcotics division. He simply has done enough time to retire and is choosing to do so at this time,” McKneely added.

As part the several divisions that will come together under the same umbrella, McKneely says there are more than 20 officers who are now tasked with handling the street level narcotics cases and violent crimes. Previously, the narcotics division was made up of twelve officers.

Two officers from that division were arrested earlier this year, including Cpl. Jeremiah Ardoin and Cpl. Jason Acree. In addition, four high-ranking detectives with the division were pulled and reassigned back in March, including Sgt. Drew White, Lt. Jeff Pittman, Sgt. Shane Mouch and Sgt. Seth Sinclair.

This comes after more than 700 cases tied to the division were dropped by District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office earlier this year.

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