LPSO sheriff awarded Community Service Award by NAACP

Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre was given the Community Service Award from the Lafourche Branch of the NAACP last Monday.

Webre was presented with a plaque at the Moses Baptist Community Center following a citizen march celebrating the life and service of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Burnell Tolbert, president of the Lafourche Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Dr. E. Faye Williams, national chair of the National Congress of Black Women and former chief of staff for Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Berry, were on hand for the award ceremony.

Webre, who took office in 1992, promised at his swearing-in ceremony to enhance and diversify the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office by recruiting and maintaining qualified employees n including all minorities.

In the years since his initial election, Webre has also developed a Work Release Program, which helps inmates receive job training and find employment in the final months of their prison term. “Having money, a job, and an established work ethic helps to keep these individuals from returning to a life of crime and re-incarceration,” department spokesman Larry Weidel said in a news release. “The program has helped hundreds succeed in their re-entry into society.”

Webre maintains an “open door” policy that includes all races, and has helped secure funds for a variety of programs to benefit the community, the Lafourche Branch of the NAACP said in presenting the award. Most notably, Webre’s office oversees the “Weed & Seed” program, which was developed to help combat crime and the social ills that affect the Raceland area.

Webre was also recognized for assisting and participating in many functions and events hosted by the NAACP, including providing a security escort for Martin Luther King III during his visit to the parish last year.

Now in his fourth term as sheriff, Weidel said Webre “continues to strive for excellence, professionalism, and equality as these character traits are the personification of his commitment to all the citizens of Lafourche Parish.”

Photo courtesyt of the LPSO * Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre is pictured holding a Community Service Award presented by the NAACP. Standing with him are Dr. E. Faye Williams of the National Congerss of Black Women and Burnell Tolbert, president of the Lafourche Branch of the NAACP.