Baton Rouge, LA — The Louisiana State Police Department has made history after recently appointing three Black policemen to the agency’s command staff. It is the first time since 1936 that 3 African American employees are in leadership positions at the same time.
In January 2021, Captain Kenny Van Buren was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel over Investigations and Captain Chavez Cammon was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel over Patrol.
It comes after the appointment of Colonel Lamar Davis in October 2020, replacing retired Colonel Kevin Reeves. Davis said he considered the experiences and qualifications of the two before deciding to promote them.
“I have a vision of making sure that, we have a job to make sure that we enforce the laws of the state, but we do so in a compassionate manner,” Davis told WAFB. “But also looking at the unique qualifications of these men, a lot of their experience is what really shined when I ended up making that decision.”
Davis is looking forward to working with them to improve law enforcement in the community especially after the many controversies that the agency encountered in 2020 before Davis took over.
“As I lead properly, then I believe that will take care of itself. I believe we will regain and gain trust not only within our agency, but within our communities, and that’s what’s important to me.”