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Police jury

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Assumption Parish Police Jury

In the U.S. state of Louisiana, the most common type of governing body for a parish is the police jury (French: le jury de police). Louisiana is divided into parishes for units of local government, similar to the counties in other states. Initially, all parishes used the police jury system. Many have transitioned to other forms of government, especially after the 1974 state constitution granted the parishes more autonomy. In general, the more rural areas still use this older system.

The police jury is a legislative and executive body. Parishes are divided into wards or districts. These each elect a "juror" to the assembly. The jurors elect a police jury president as their chairman. The president presides over the police jury and serves as the titular head of the parish government. Police juries range in size, depending on population, from three to over fifteen members. Wide latitude is given to organize and administer parish business.

Etymology

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A police jury was called a "police assembly" initially. A law passed on April 6, 1807, created groups to handle the "local police and administration of their parish".[1] Three years later, these were officially defined as "police juries" and given specific roles.[2] The term "jury" comes from the two aspects of the original police juries. They were the same size as grand juries and were presided over by the parish judge.[1]

History

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The police jury system was introduced when the area was the Territory of Orleans. Two years after the Louisiana Purchase,[3] the newly formed legislative council divided the territory into 12 counties. These counties proved unmanageable, and the legislature reverted to using the smaller Catholic parishes, defined in 1762 as "the farthest area that the priest could ride on horseback, within reason, to go to the outlying churches to conduct a mass once a month".[2]

In 1810, the office of sheriff was created for each parish, and the police jury was officially defined one year later.[2] The original format had the parish judge presiding over the police jury, but this was quickly replaced with a police jury president, elected by the jurors from among their members.[4] In 1813, the parishes were subdivided into wards, each electing one juror.[2]

The Territory of Orleans had a different cultural background than other states and no experience with representative government.[3] The juries started with limited powers and an explicit mandate to maintain and regulate infrastructure, alcohol consumption, and slavery.[4][1] Their role would grow to encompass over fifty government functions.[3] The 1974 State Constitution granted more autonomy to cities and parishes. This shifted from delegated authority where parishes could only do what was explicitly permitted, to "home rule" where the local government could do anything not explicitly prohibited.[5] Many parishes chose to transition away and drafted home rule charters, defining the structure, powers, and limits of their local government.[5]

Functions

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Exterior photograph of a brick government building with a prominent sign. The sign reads 402 second street East Carroll Parish Police jury Office Complex: community action agency, office of motor vehicles, section eight, veterans affairs, probation and parole, and triad.
East Carroll Parish Police Jury office complex in Lake Providence, Louisiana

In Louisiana, the level of government between the city and state is the parish, comparable to the counties used by other US states.[3] The police jury handles the executive and legislative functions of the parish government. The parishes are divided into wards or districts. These each elect a "juror" to the assembly.[5] The assembly's size varies depending on the population, from three members in some rural parishes to over fifteen. The jurors elect a "police jury president" from among their members.[4] Like other elections in Louisiana, parish elections typically occur in odd-numbered years and use the open primary system.[4]

Buildings in background. Sign in foreground reads St. Helena Parish Police Jury, Office of Homeland Security, Building Permits, E-911 Administrator Office with individual phone numbers and collective address.
St. Helena Parish Police Jury, maintenance department in background

While originally narrow in scope and only holding powers delegated by the state, modern police juries have broad authority to take actions approved by the voters. According to the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, responsibilities include road maintenance, construction of prisons, waste disposal, bridge construction, fire protection, maintaining the courts plus other parish offices, promoting tourism, and regulating local businesses. They can also create ordinances and enforce them via fines in civil court.[4] To receive state funding, police juries are required to assign road maintenance to a centralized program to prevent conflicts of interest.[5] Police juries also administer state and federal programs at the local level.[3]

Forms of parish government

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The state of Louisiana divided and labelled by parish.
Map of Louisiana's 64 parishes

The police jury is the most common form of parish government in Louisiana.[6] Many parishes, especially those with large municipalities and suburban areas, have converted away from the system, although some parishes with large cities still use the police jury, including Bossier (Bossier City), Calcasieu (Lake Charles), Ouachita (Monroe) and Rapides (Alexandria).[4]

Twenty-six Louisiana parishes are governed by home rule charters that allow them to pick a different form of government.[6] These include council-president, council-manager, and consolidated parish/city.[4] Under a council-president system, voters elect an executive president and a legislative council separately. With the council-manager system, voters elect a parish council, which hires a professional manager to run the day-to-day government. A consolidated government combines the parish with the local city government, and voters typically elect a separate council and executive.[5] For example, since 1949 the state's capital city and its containing parish have used a consolidated government headed by a mayor-president.[7][8]

Local government of each parish
Parish Type of government
Acadia police jury
Allen police jury
Assumption police jury
Avoyelles police jury
Beauregard police jury
Bienville police jury
Bossier police jury
Calcasieu police jury
Caldwell police jury
Cameron police jury
Catahoula police jury
Claiborne police jury
Concordia police jury
DeSoto police jury
East Carroll police jury
East Feliciana police jury
Evangeline police jury
Franklin police jury
Grant police jury
Jackson police jury
Jefferson Davis police jury
La Salle police jury
Lincoln police jury
Madison police jury
Morehouse police jury
Ouachita police jury
Rapides police jury
Red River police jury
Richland police jury
Sabine police jury
St. Helena police jury
Tensas police jury
Union police jury
Vermillion police jury
Vernon police jury
Webster police jury
West Carroll police jury
Winn police jury
Ascension council-president
Iberia council-president
Iberville council-president
Jefferson council-president
Lafourche council-president
Livingston council-president
Natchitoches council-president
Plaquemines council-president
Pointe Coupee council-president
St. Bernard council-president
St. Charles council-president
St. James council-president
St. John the Baptist council-president
St. Landry council-president
St. Martin council-president
St. Mary council-president
St. Tammany council-president
Tangipahoa council-president
Washington council-president
West Baton Rouge council-president
West Feliciana council-president
Orleans Parish & New Orleans consolidated
East Baton Rouge Parish & Baton Rouge consolidated
Lafayette Parish & Lafayette consolidated
Terrebonne Parish & Houma consolidated
Caddo Parish council manager

Sources: [6][4][5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Calhoun, Robert Dabney (January 1935). Walter Prichard (ed.). "The Origins of County–Parish Government". The Louisiana Historical Quarterly (1969 AMS reprint ed.). Vol. 18, no. 1. pp. 93, 94, 120.
  2. ^ a b c d KPLC (21 June 2007). "History of Police Jury Government". 7KPLC News. Lake Charles, Louisiana: KPLC.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bourgeois, Andreé; Pino, Jennifer; and Laver, Tara (2005–2008). "Biographical/Historical Note". W.P.A. Collection Historical Records Survey Transcriptions of Louisiana Police Jury Records. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: LSU Libraries.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ouchley, Kelley (15 June 2021). "Police Juries". 64 Parishes. New Orleans: Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hancock, Harry J, ed. (1998). "Your Local Government." Your Louisiana Government: An Owner’s Manual. Baton Rouge: Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, 1998. Ch. 6, pp. 73–82.
  6. ^ a b c McCreary St. Romain, Sunny, ed. (2019). "Parish Government Structure". Police Jury Association of Louisiana. Retrieved 11 October 2023. Archived 11 October 2023.
  7. ^ Higginbotham Makes History As First Mayor-President. 1 January 1949. Baton Rouge State-Times. § B, p. 25.
  8. ^ "200 Years of Baton Rouge History: An Interactive Timeline". 2017. Baton Rouge 200. East Baton Rouge Parish Library. § 1949.