2009 Louisiana Laws TITLE 48 Roads, bridges and ferries :: RS 48:1101.1 Crescent city connection police

§1101.1.  Crescent City Connection police

A.  The secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development may, at his discretion, appoint, fix salaries of, and pay bridge police in accordance with Department of State Civil Service regulations.  The secretary may make and amend rules and regulations for the conduct, management, and control of such police.

B.(1)  Persons hired shall be at least eighteen years of age and of good character.  After January 1, 1981, all persons appointed as police officers under this Section shall complete and graduate from a training program as approved and accredited as provided in R.S. 40:2401 et seq., entitled: Peace Officer Standards and Training Law.  Each police officer so appointed shall furnish bond in accordance with law in a sum to be fixed by the secretary.  Such bond shall be conditioned on the faithful performance of the police officer's duties, and any person injured or damaged by such police officer may sue upon said bond.

(2)(a)  Crescent City Connection police shall have, under the direction and control of the secretary, the same powers to make arrests and the power to execute and return all warrants and processes as sheriffs of the parishes of Jefferson and St. Bernard and police officers of the city of New Orleans and the cities of Gretna and Westwego in and upon the Mississippi River Bridge Authority's property occupied by the Crescent City Connection, the Huey P. Long Bridge, the Westbank Expressway, and the ferries and the public ways contiguous thereto.  Such police officers, under the same direction and control of the secretary, shall have all other powers of sheriffs of the parishes of Jefferson and St. Bernard and police officers of the city of New Orleans and the  cities of Gretna and Westwego as peace officers, in all places and on all premises under the jurisdiction and control of the Crescent City Connection, the Huey P. Long Bridge, the Westbank Expressway, and the ferries and the public ways contiguous thereto.

(b)  Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Subsection, the jurisdiction of the Crescent City Connection police on the Pontchartrain Expressway shall not extend beyond the South Broad Street Overpass in the city of New Orleans and the jurisdiction of the Crescent City Connection police on the Westbank Expressway shall not extend beyond the western most convergence of the Westbank Expressway and U.S. Highway 90; however, the jurisdiction of the Crescent City Connection police on the westbank of the Mississippi River shall include the area bounded on the north by General Meyer Avenue, on the south by the Magellan Canal, on the west by Shirley Drive, and on the east by Pace Boulevard.

(c)  The Crescent City Connection police shall exercise concurrent police jurisdiction with the sheriff of the parish of Jefferson and the police chiefs of the cities of Gretna and Westwego under the provisions of this Section unless the sheriff of the parish of Jefferson and the police chiefs of the cities of Gretna and Westwego give written notification that such concurrent police jurisdiction is terminated by that law enforcement agency as to the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction within its law enforcement jurisdiction.

(3)  In an emergency situation, at the request of a sheriff, chief of police, officer, chief executive officer of any of the above-named municipalities, or the governing authority of any of the above-named parishes, the Crescent City Connection police shall have the above-conferred powers throughout the geographic limits of such parish or city until such time as the requesting authority has certified that the emergency is over.  An emergency situation declared under the provisions of this Paragraph shall not last more than ten days unless the extension of the emergency situation is approved by a majority of the legislative delegation representing Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard Parishes.

(4)  The Crescent City Connection division, within the Department of Transportation and Development, shall be liable, in accordance with law, for all actions of its police officers performing duties pursuant to this Section.

(5)  No person appointed as a police officer pursuant to this Section shall receive any state supplemental pay.

C.  Any persons arrested by police officers appointed under this Section and the return of all warrants or processes served by said officers shall be surrendered or delivered to the appropriate custodial authorities of the city of New Orleans, the city of Gretna, the parish of Jefferson, or the parish of St. Bernard.  Provided, however, that nothing in this Section shall deprive the New Orleans City Police, Gretna City Police, nor any sheriff or deputy sheriff in the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, or St. Bernard from making arrests or serving warrants or processes in any such place or on any such premises.

Added by Acts 1980, No. 349, §1.  Amended by Acts 1981, No. 546, §1; Acts 1983, No. 246, §1; Acts 1992, No. 88, §1; Acts 1993, No. 148, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1350, §1, eff. July 12, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 727, §4, eff. June 27, 2003.