MONROE, La. – The city of Monroe has a new police chief and he says he’s ready to make some positive changes.
Newly appointed chief Victor “Vic” Zordan was introduced on Wednesday at the city’s press conference.
Zordan has 24 years of experience as a federal agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He’s spent the last 20 years in the Monroe area. He also served a brief stint with the Monroe Police Department.
During his time with the DEA, he worked closely with other agencies including the Metro Narcotics Unit, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office.
One of the main items at the top of his list is addressing the city’s crime rate. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, violent crime decreased by 38% from 2017 to 2018 but increased by 20% from 2018 to 2019.
“It’s no secret that crime is the largest deterrent in growth to prosperity in our city and our region,” said Mayor Friday Ellis.
There were 1,098 violent crimes reported in 2017, 677 in 2018, and 843 in 2019.
Zordan said he plans to tackle those numbers head-on.
“We’ve gotta address it as a whole. We’ve got to make sure that we have enough police officers on the streets, and we begin with uniformed presence,” Zordan said. “Uniformed and police units are actually the most deterrent to crime.”
He said increasing police presence will come with more recruitment and training both inside and outside the department. In addition, they will continue to have conversations about justice reform and equality as well as de-escalation techniques.
Zordan also said he plans to handle the rising crime at Parkview Apartments, which had nine murders this year according to police data.
“Number one, we’re gonna have uniformed presence. Number two, the women and children that need to be protected down there will be protected,” Zordan said.
Zordan also plans to use his past experience with the DEA to stop illegal drug use right at the source.
“We develop complex conspiracies where we get the upmost people responsible for pushing this poison,” Zordan said.
In addition, he also plans to further develop relationships with community members, pastors, and more. That also includes mentorship programs with high school students.
“We’re going to continue to have relationships and that’s the goal of this administration is being able to have discussions and have relationships so we can understand equally what everybody is going through,” Zordan said.
