Norita Price Trahan
August 12, 2008Beulah "Bebe" M. Freeman
August 14, 2008
A day after Capt. Darrin Naquin was promoted to commanding officer of Louisiana State Police Troop C, he appointed Raceland native Gregg Falgout to fill his vacated slot as executive officer.
The 42-year-old lieutenant previously held the position as one of the shift commanders over the patrol unit at Troop C.
Falgout settled behind his wooden desk last week and took a moment to look back on his journey from a rookie trooper. The veteran trooper has worked his way up the ranks with only on-job training skills as his higher education tools.
“I am humbled to be selected as the second in command at Troop C,” he said. “I have worked my entire career to reach this point, and I believe that I have the leadership skills to handle this position.”
But, for the most part, he has been preparing for the day he would earn the title of executive officer at Troop C.
“This promotion will live with me forever and go down in Troop C history,” he said.
Falgout is a third generation state trooper. His grandfather, Elmo Falgout Sr., 94, and father, Elmo Falgout Jr., 66, both held the executive officer position before their respective retirements.
“It has been eight years since a Falgout held the executive officer position,” he said. “My father and grandfather are very excited that I have made it to this point and they have high hopes that I will continue up the ladder and take the family name further.”
Elmo Sr. joined the state police 1949 and become Troop C’s executive officer in the early 1970s. He held the position until to his retirement in 1975. Falgout’s father, Elmo Jr., 66, followed 12 years later in 1987 until his retirement in August 2000.
From the beginning, Falgout wanted to live up to his father and grandfather’s legacy as a trooper.
“I was always around state troopers, it was all I knew,” he said. “When I was older enough to choose a career, I wanted to be a state trooper too.”
He defined a state trooper as a respectable person who mentors to the community and helps keep the highways and streets safe. He believes that they should also have good moral character. But, above all else, they have to love what they do.
“There was no question as to what I wanted to be when I grew up,” he said. “As a young boy I had the opportunity to see what the life of a state trooper was like first hand because my father and grandfather both worked for the state police, and I wanted to be just like them.”
When asked about growing up around law enforcement officers, he said it was pretty easy because he made sure he walked the straight and narrow path.
“I tried to keep my noise clean as much as possible because I didn’t want it to get back to my father and grandfather,” he joked.
The third generation trooper began mimicking his father and grandfather in 1984. Right out of high school, the Central Lafourche High School graduate decided to bypass going to college to join the Lafourche Parish Fire District No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department.
“Again I was doing what my father and grandfather had done before me. They were volunteer firemen and I wanted to be one too,” he said.
In December of that same year, Falgout joined the Lafourche Parish Sheriff Office. He worked as a patrolman for six years, before heading to Baton Rouge for the State Police Training Academy in January 1990.
He graduated on April 12, 1990 as a member of the 67th session, only to settle into his digs at Troop C, which serves Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. John the Baptist and small portion of St. James parishes, for the next 18 years.
Falgout worked as a patrol trooper for nine years, and on March 31, 1999, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. The promotion earned him the first line supervisor on a patrol shift.
On Nov. 3, 2005, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and took over as the commanding officer over the patrol shift.
Falgout’s hard work at Troop C has not gone unnoticed. The former state police SWAT team member’s holds several awards.
In 1998, he was selected as Troop C’s Trooper of the Year, and was awarded a lifesaving metal. In 2005, Falgout received the Meritorious Service and Unit Citation awards for hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
He was also acknowledged in 2005 as the Louisiana State Troopers Association Troop C affiliate “Member of the Year.” In 2007, he received another Unit Citation and a Professional Excellence Award for Troop C’s excellence in seat belt enforcement.
