Sheriff of Jefferson Parish. In Jefferson the Sheriff is not only the
jailer but he is also the chief of police. Lee is wildly popular with
Jefferson voters. Since his initial election
in 1979, he was
re-elected in 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, and 2003. Lee died of complications related to lukemia in October 2007.
He has not avoided controversy, but has been credited with keeping
crime out of Jefferson Parish while neighboring New Orleans has
simmered. Accused of racial profiling, Lee has been unapologetic but
willing to change tactics and work with all the interests in his
community, especially the NAACP and local church leaders. Some of his
famous quotes include:
"We know the crime is in the black community. Why should I waste time in the white community?"
"We know where the problem areas are. If we see some black guys on the corner milling around, we would confront them."
"It's more difficult for somebody to accuse me of being a racist, when
you figure I was born in the back room of a Chinese laundry. When I was
a kid, I was called a 'chink.'"
He maintained distance between himself and the Gretna police after the
incident on the CCC in which Gretna police barred evacuation from New
Orleans. But when attacked over the incident by Congressional candidate
Karen Carter, he reacted by publicly expressing a vote of no confidence
for Carter. His opposition was highly influential with conservative
white voters in both Orleans and Jefferson and may have been the
tipping point in Bill Jefferson's reelection.
Lee has somehow found the key to making the CJS work in Jefferson
Parish. Post Katrina he faced a rash of murders. The parish experienced
a 50% increase in murders from 40 in 2004 to 60 in 2006 while the
population is much the same. It is primarily black-on-black,
thug-on-thug believed to be drug related spillover from Orleans. If
Lee's performance holds true to form, you would expect to see that rate
decline in 2007. (You might also expect if this holds true that Orleans
would be interested in his methods. Or is that asking too much?)