2 weeks Ago
SHREVEPORT, La. - Operation Ask Blue was designed to address the issue of squatters across Shreveport. The operation began at the beginning of April, and Monday the Shreveport City Council received an update on the efforts.
At the Shreveport Public Safety Meeting, a number of issues were addressed. A main focus was on the success of the anti-squatter operation and how to improve it in the future. The Highland neighborhood has been a main area of concern due to squatters.
The council was happy to hear the operation that Shreveport Police put in place has been effective in that area. "The update on that is that it yielded seven arrests, and a lot of the complaints that the Highland area had actually were substantiated, even more so by the data that was presented to us today. So I think they can be happy that their voices were heard, and this is the progress that is being made, but also we're taking this citywide," said Shreveport City Council Chairwoman Tabatha Taylor.
One of the concerns from the council was what happens when the squatters are released from jail and how the city keeps them from going back to what they were doing. Chief Wayne Smith said often times the people don't want help, but the city is going to continue to work on solutions to this problem. "Moving people around that don't seem to have a solid place to live and putting them in jail and arresting them does not cure that problem.
They go to jail if that's the case, and they get out, and they just find somewhere else to go. When we did the operation, we did have Hope Connections out there; we had what resources were known to us to try to help people," said Smith. During the regular council meeting, members also showed support for Louisiana Legislature that will help address blight, which in turn can also help with the squatter issue.
"Blight is a real issue because it opens up a mechanism for crime in our area, and we need to hold these property owners accountable, but we also need to streamline some of our processes. So we want to look at those particular properties. We want to see that if we condemn those, we also have them for redevelopment," said Taylor.
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