Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of three stories profiling the candidates for Calcasieu Parish Sheriff.

South Lake Charles Kiwanis Club members heard from Calcasieu Parish Sheriff candidate Mike Reid Wednesday. Candidate Dustan Abshire spoke last week. Next week, the group will hear from Stitch Guillory. Club President Danny Lewis said the club will extend an invitation to other candidates who officially announce.

“I am running for Sheriff of Calcasieu Parish not only for the current deputies but also for their families and the citizens of Calcasieu Parish,” said Mike Reid.

Reid, the youngest son of the late Sheriff Ham Reid, commended Sheriff Mancuso for his service, but thinks there is room for improvement to maximize the safety of deputies, families and citizens.

The recurring theme during Reid’s talk was improving morale within the department, officer training and a promise to CPSO employees: “I’ll have your back.”

He said since the storm, things have changed. Lack of manpower is a major issue and he doesn’t think the rate of pay is the problem.

“They start at $40,000 now,” he said. “You could boost it up to $50,000 or $60,000 but until you have deputies that know they’re coming into a place that they want to come to work at, that you have their back, they’re not going to come.”

To combat the problem with drugs, and specifically fentanyl, he said harsher sentences are needed, and he would work with the District Attorney’s office and U.S. Magistrates to make that happen,  and it will take all local PD Chiefs and the Sheriff combining resources and requesting help from the federal government to create a more robust drug task force.

In 1993, after attending Marine Military Academy and studying  psychology at McNeese State University for two years, Reid asked Lake Charles Police Chief Sam Ivey for a job and was hired.

He described military/boarding school and post graduate training there as, “the best thing that ever happened to him.” Reid’s  father had died a couple of years earlier and  he was  a junior in high school.  “I wasn’t listening at home. My momma drove me to Harlingen, Texas, down in the Rio Grande Valley, dropped me off and left. I turned around and there was a drill sergeant.”

He started work with the Lake Charles Police Department as a patrol officer and then the narcotics division, staying in narcotics for 15  years.

“A lot went on in those 15 years,” he said. “I went to the FBI gang narcotics task force. I was in the U.S. Marshals task force transporting fugitives. I was in the burglary division. I was also team leader on the SWAT team.”

Reid said he made a mistake when he quit the Lake Charles Police Department to help a friend run his business for a year. He started his own private investigation business, which he operated for a couple of years. For the past five years he has been working as a sales person  at Bolton Ford, a place that offered health insurance.

During the question and answer session, Reid explained what he meant by “having a deputy’s back.” While breaking the law and lying would not be tolerated, he said a deputy would not have to worry about repercussions if he admits he made a mistake and learns from it. He gave the example of a patrol officer responding to a call and arresting three people, one of whom was arrested through an honest mistake. He said he thought Don Dixon was an effective leader because he and other leaders in the department were “on the street” with his officers.

“Some people are in positions that don’t need to be in those positions, “ he said, “like the upper positions. They don’t need to be there; they’ll weed themselves out eventually.”

Later in his talk, he said that he wouldn’t be dragging the rugs out from under the feet of deputies five or six years away from retirement, unless they were not doing their jobs.

He sees local casinos as drawing prostitution and sex trafficking, especially as Lake Charles is a hub city between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Law breakers come here then leave.     

Reid acknowledged that changes will require funding and a thorough review of the numbers, but one of the places he would cut back is with the purchase of certain vehicles. He said that Platinum F150 packages have been purchased from Bolton Ford and the price tag is $90,000. He did not say how many of these vehicles were purchased or by whom. He did say these are not patrol vehicles. These trucks pull animal trailers or boats for the marine division, he said. He praised the Marine Division as an “outstanding division doing some amazing things” such as teaching departments in other locations.

“We will make Calcasieu Parish one of the safest communities along the Gulf Coast with zero tolerance on drugs and other crimes that jeopardize the safety of our residents,” he said.