Lafourche Parish sheriff candidates face off

Larry Benoit, Democrat, Thibodaux

Benoit, 57, is the father of four children. He served seven years in the Louisiana Army National Guard. He currently works in the private sector, teaching defensive driving and Homeland Security Awareness.

He has seven years of uniformed patrol under his belt, as well as, seven years as a police training officer, 15 years in criminal investigations and crime scene investigations and two years working Internal Affairs Investigations.

If elected sheriff, he intends to closely examine the current budget and spending practices. He wants to decentralize patrol and detective bureaus to create closer contact with the public and make officers more familiar with the local crime element. He also wants further exploration of a new parish jail and alternatives.

This will be his first run at political office.

Chester Douglas, Democrat, Lockport

Douglas has been married to Emma for 33 years and has two sons. He was born and raised in Lockport, where his family has lived since 1954. He is an ordained deacon.

He began his law enforcement career at the age of 18. He worked 2 1/2 years as a communication equipment operator at Louisiana State Police Troop C. And he served for 17.5 years with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office as a K-9 officer, juvenile officer and criminal investigator for 12 of those years.

Douglas wants to bring “true” community policing to the Lafourche parish by setting up 24-hour offices in Thibodaux, Lockport and Galliano. He also wants to expand the trustee program to include non-profit organizations and resolve the parish’s current jail crisis.

Craig Jaccuzzo, Democrat, Houma

Jaccuzzo has been married to his wife Kelly for the last 13 years and has one son. He enjoys fishing and said he has been doing it since he was old enough to climb into the boat. He also played offensive tackle on a Central Lafourche High football squad that went undefeated his senior year. He joked he didn’t try to go to the next level, because he was “too short.”

He coaches his son in baseball and is involved with the Cub Scouts.

He boasts 17 years of diverse law enforcement experience. He currently serves as the Nicholls State University Police Chief. And he supervised the first “Community Policing Section” of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office.

If elected, Jaccuzzo has a 10-point plan for Lafourche parish. He wants to create a Drug Czar within the Sheriff’s Office to go after drug dealers in the community. He wants to dedicate deputies and trustees to work on the maintenance of public facilities on a daily basis. And he wants to set up a Lafourche Parish Resident’s Board to work as a liaison to the Sheriff’s Office.

Louis “Smitty” Smith Jr., No Party, Larose

Smith, 56, is married to Cathy and has two daughters and five grandchildren. He loves fishing.

He retired at age 55 from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Officer after serving for 22 years. He served in the military for two years after graduating from high school.

He wants to put the department back in touch with the public through community police work. To do this, he wants to re-open all the branch offices to full service, where the public can file complaints personally and directly with the supervisor in charge. He also wants to revitalize the DARE program in schools and recruit more officers capable of speaking French and Spanish.

(I) Craig Webre, Republican, Thibodaux

Webre turned 46 this past August and is a car enthusiast. He recently purchases his dream car, a 2007 Shelby GT500, and attends car shows when he can. He also attends two churches, St. Lawrence de Martyr in his home town of Kramer and St. Thomas Aquinas at Nicholls State University.

Webre graduated from Loyola Law School in 1992 and two months later, was sworn in as Lafourche Parish’s sheriff. He currently serves as an adjunct professor with both Nicholls State and Loyola University’s Master in Criminal Justice program.

He has served as Lafourche Parish sheriff since 1992. Worked as a state trooper and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Loyola University.

If re-elected, he wants to produce more highly-trained and educated officers in the parish. He believes in performance and not promises and points to the fact that when he first became Sheriff, deputies were referred to as “Dead Heads,” as they lacked training and equipment. Since then, he said the LPSO is now a very respected leader in law enforcement and has received national accreditation.

“(I)” denotes incumbent.