Louisiana State Police: Protest response costs reached $67K

Aaron S. Lee

4 years ago

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2020 file photo, a heavy Louisiana State Police presence is seen at the New Chapel Hill Baptist Church during funeral services for Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth in West Monroe, La. An Associated Press review of thousands of records has revealed multiple cases when Louisiana State troopers and some of their supervisors exchanged emails with casual, demeaning uses of the n-word. All of it comes against the backdrop of a federal civil rights investigation over the in-custody death of a Black motorist that has roiled the state's premier law enforcement agency and led to an abrupt change in its leadership. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana State Police says it spent more than $67,000 for increased security around the state Capitol during protests held by Donald Trump’s supporters after the former Republican president lost his reelection bid.

State police Lt. Nick Manale says the agency’s personnel costs covered more than 1,200 hours of security work to monitor the protests and bolster the law enforcement presence amid concerns about potential threats at state capitols around the country, particularly after the U.S. Capitol riot Jan. 6.

Louisiana’s protests were peaceful and small with no more than a few hundred people at any of the multiple gatherings on the state Capitol steps, unlike the siege in Washington.