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April 21, 2020
CENTRAL - After the Louisiana Legislature's Auditor conducted a review of the City of Central's Police Department it found evidence of disturbing errors in the department's paperwork and operations under its previous Chief of Police.
According to a letter dated March 30 of this year, Central's current Chief of Police, Roger Corcoran, requested that the state auditor's office investigate certain aspects of the police department's operations before he took office.
In the letter, Corcoran states, "this request was made to protect the department along with myself as the new Chief of Police."
He went on to allege that under the leadership of former Chief of Police, James Salsbury, a large amount of donated ammunition and property went missing and that former Chief Salsbury allegedly used his own company to install emergency equipment in departmental units without completing any of the required paperwork that would have linked the work back to his business.
The ensuing audit of Central's Police Department confirmed some of these accusations.
According to the state auditor's office the federal government donated $26,784 worth of ammunition to the department. But this ammunition was neither properly logged/kept track of, stored, nor were the required procedures followed when it was exchanged.
The auditor's office discovered that some of the ammunition was reportedly stored at the former Police Chief's business due to a lack of room within facilities owned by the Central Police Department.
The auditor's office found this questionable and suggested that such actions not be repeated.
In addition to this, $7,512 of the donated ammunition went unaccounted for due to a lack of paperwork.
The auditor suggested that Central's police department avoid this in the future by maintaining a log of all ammunition used during practices and documenting when ammunition is sold or exchanged.
Central's Mayor Pro Tempore, Wade Evans, sent a letter to the state auditor's office earlier this month, thanking them for conducting the investigation and stating that he has full faith in the current leadership within the city's police department.
Councilman Wade wrote, "I have reviewed the findings with our Police Chief (Roger Corcoran), and I am confident that procedures have been put in place to alleviate any inventory issues moving forward."
