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Lafayette Police Chief Paul Trouard

Lafayette Police Chief Paul Trouard

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Summary

 Lafayette Police Chief Paul Trouard joins Discover Lafayette for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about nearly three decades in law enforcement, the rapid evolution of policing technology, and the realities of leading a modern police department in one of Louisiana’s fastest-growing communities. Appointed Lafayette Chief of Police in February 2025 after serving as interim chief, Trouard brings more than 28 years of law enforcement experience to the role. A graduate of the FBI National Academy, he also holds a master’s degree in organizational management and leadership from Columbia Southern University, a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and an undergraduate criminal justice certificate from the University of Virginia. Trouard additionally served as a staff sergeant in the Louisiana National Guard. Recorded at the LFT Fiber Connectivity Summit on March 19, 2026, at Vermilionville, the interview explores how technology and connectivity now shape virtually every aspect of policing. Trouard vividly contrasts today’s real-time emergency response systems with the realities officers faced when he first joined the force nearly 30 years ago. “Dispatch would get a phone call from 911. They would write down the call on the card, they’d put the card in a bin with your name on it,” he recalled. Officers relied on paper maps and radio instructions, often struggling to locate addresses in the middle of the night. “Something that might have taken 10, 15, 20 minutes in the past for us to figure out where we’re going now takes only seconds.” Today, Trouard says, “Lafayette’s emergency response network is driven by GPS-enabled dispatching, real-time camera feeds, data terminals inside patrol vehicles, and a growing drone program that can assist officers before they even arrive at a scene. The technology has changed so fast over the last few years.” Trouard shares that he knew by middle school that law enforcement would become his career. Drawn to public service by his family background, he says Lafayette Police Department’s college assistance program helped solidify his decision to relocate from Calcasieu Parish to Lafayette. “I fell in love with it,” he says. “There’s nothing like it. Every call is different. You actually can help the public.” Chief Trouard’s career path within the department reflects nearly every major operational area of policing. After beginning on patrol, he spent years training recruits in the field training unit before moving into financial crimes investigations and eventually homicide. Trouard still vividly remembers his first homicide case. “They sent me out on a homicide call and I solved it the first night,” he said. “I found out that that’s exactly what I wanted to do.” Much of his career was spent supervising homicide and violent crimes investigations, eventually rising through the ranks to captain before unexpectedly stepping into department leadership. “People don’t realize that we’re trained to do law enforcement,” Trouard explained. “But now you’re running the department, you’re doing the finances, you’re doing the policy, you’re doing all the internal affairs complaints. You have to learn to run the business.” “We have about 285 officers right now and are allocated 300. So we’re recruiting. We’re hiring if anybody’s interested. You need to be 21 years of age with a high school diploma. We’ll take care of the rest. We have an education program where you can come and take college credits and the Police Department will pay for it.” Trouard says one of his immediate priorities as chief was improving officer retention and modernization. “There are three things that keep an officer with an agency,” he said. “Number one is agency reputation. Number two is the equipment. Number three is pay.” Under his leadership, Lafayette Police replaced major equipment including radios, weaponry, and in-car data terminals. The conversation also dives deeply into Lafayette’s recent crime trends. Trouard notes that Lafayette has seen a significant reduction in homicides during the past two years. “Three years ago we had 29 homicides,” he said. “This past year we’re down to ten homicides with all of them closed.” He attributes part of that decline to strategic changes targeting major narcotics suppliers rather than street-level offenders. “We’re on I-10 and I-49. We’re on a drug corridor,” Trouard explained. “If you take drugs off the street, you take guns off the street, things get real quiet.” Trouard also stresses the importance of citizen awareness and community involvement in crime prevention. “Eighty-five percent of vehicle burglaries are unlocked vehicles,” he said, adding that many stolen firearms originate from unsecured vehicles. “If you see something, say something,” remains one of the department’s guiding principles. A significant...
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