Edith "Dotsy" Fauntleroy Smith
June 3, 2009Enell Bradley Brown
June 5, 2009
Marc Folse, a 27-year veteran cop with the Morgan City Police Department, is now the city’s new police chief, following a recommendation by Mayor Tim Matte.
Folse becomes the ninth man to head the department in 27 years. He succeeds former Chief Jim Christy, who abruptly resigned from his post in January with no press conference or public statement as to why.
Christy had been Morgan City police chief since April 2002.
Folse, 49, has worked his entire law enforcement career in Morgan City. He started as a jailer, and was promoted to police sergeant in 1990, lieutenant in 1992 and captain in 2003.
Folse has been working as interim police chief since January. Prior to that stint, he was assistant chief of police.
The city council ratified Folse’s appointment last week during its May meeting.
Matte noted that 11 applicants sought the job of police chief by first applying with the Morgan City Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board.
The mayor said that eight of the applicants took the civil service test, a requirement for the job, and of the eight, five passed the test.
After last week’s meeting, Folse said he will request the city’s civil service board set a date to fill the assistant city chief of police job. Until then, Morgan City police captains Glenn Blanco and Michael Banks will continue to share those duties.
Also, Folse noted that his department has several vacancies, including jailers and officers.
In Morgan City, the police chief reports to the mayor, although he is considered a civil service employee.
Christy’s resignation came on the heels of a letter some members of the department wrote last year to the Civil Service Board, in which they complained that Christy did not properly investigate the apparent theft of $7,000 from the city’s evidence room, along with favoritism, oppression and discrimination.
They also claimed many officers were labeled “troublemakers” after they expressed their concerns.
Christy never held an internal investigation in to the whereabouts of the money, but instead turned the matter over to the Bureau of Investigation of the Louisiana State Police who concluded there was not sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
At this time, there is still no conclusion about the whereabouts of the money, an incident which occurred in 2004.
