The following information is provided by Officer Haley Stafford with the Baton Rouge Police Department. Office Stafford is our Garden District’s Off-Duty Patrol contact.
- A home on Park Boulevard was burglarized in June. Officer Stafford reached out to the victim and encouraged the person to establish a Nextdoor profile and continued to follow up with them over the next two months to help reduce their anxiety and calm them down. She educated the victim on safety tips, reporting, and neighborhood watch.Officer Stafford worked the burglary case until the Detective assigned to the our area returned from being out of town. BRPD officers learned the identity of the suspect, Raphael Jenkins, in July after receiving the DNA hit from the crime lab. Officers learned Mr. Jenkins was a suspect in multiple other burglaries. Officer Stafford reached out to Nextdoor, posted a photo, and requested the community begin notifying Police if Jenkins was spotted in the area. She communicated with other Officers working the road to let them know of Mr. Jenkins warrant, his crimes and the likelihood of future calls coming in for Mr. Jenkins. On July 13, 2018, Mr. Jenkins was spotted on Government Street and arrested. Officer Stafford notified the victim of the arrest who then advised Officer Stafford that the experience had been life-changing and that many new things were learned over the last two months. Officer Stafford now sees the victim advocating safety and reporting to other neighbors through the Nextdoor application.Mr. Jenkins is a possible suspect in a burglary of a home under construction on Olive Street. Officer Stafford spoke with the construction foreman who has since installed a camera near the residence. The foreman reported a male subject entered the garage area of the home, urinated on the wall, and left a donut bag on the ground. The camera was able to get a shot of the male as he initially walked into the garage and the male in the photo matched the description of Mr. Jenkins. This case is still pending.
- Officer Stafford assisted with a neighborly dispute on Park Blvd. The parties involved were having disagreements that had heightened over time. Officer Stafford intervened, speaking separately with both parties. She was able to get them to make concessions and agree to be more civil to one another. Officer Stafford instructed the neighbors to continue working on mediating their differences.
- Officer Stafford reported that she has been continuously instructing the community to report everything, to lock all doors, and to install security systems and cameras. She stated that much of the community still does not report things when they occur. Rather, they wait long periods of time which contaminates possible DNA scenes, or they don’t report at all until other people in the area experience the same crime. They report to social media rather than reporting to Police. She patrols the area of the Garden District numerous times in a manner to deter criminal activity. She has not received any calls for service during these patrols. She has contacted several suspicious persons in the area of the Garden District, but after checking their identification, they were released. She has not observed any crimes in progress during her patrols.
- Officer Stafford is currently working a burglary investigation on Olive Street. There is no video surveillance. The homeowner was out of town at the time of the burglary. Officer Stafford saw the homeowner’s post about the burglary on Nextdoor and looked up the report in the system. Officer Stafford has reached out to the homeowner to get a list of missing items that could possibly be tracked.
Finally, Officer Stafford stated that she has noticed a decrease in calls for service for burglaries since the arrest of Alverz Peters and Raphael Jenkins. Calls received in July were mainly suspicious persons calls and false alarm calls.
Our sincerest thanks to Officer Stafford for providing our Garden District Association with this information. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated Officer servicing our neighborhood.
