(The Center Square) – Caddo Parish District Attorney candidate Alan Seabaugh says, if elected, he intends to fix Shreveport’s public safety environment that emboldens the criminal element while causing the general public to live in fear.
According to Sebaugh, public perception that the city is unsafe is a direct consequence of district attorney James Stewart’s non-aggressive approach.
“The crime that we’re having to deal with on a daily basis is not okay,” he said.
Four candidates qualified for the Nov. 3 election: the incumbent Stewart, and challengers Seabaugh, Lauren Ray Anderson and Patricia Gilley.
The criminal justice record during Stewart’s tenure can yield both positive and negative findings. His office is listed among the state’s busiest for jury trials, it maintains a conviction rate above 90%, and crime rate statistics are decreasing, but Shreveport has also experienced a record number of homicides under his watch and the time required to resolve cases increased substantially.
Sen. Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, is a 16-year veteran of the Legislature with a 32-year career as a practicing attorney in civil law, who participated in 20 jury trials and over 200 bench trials.
“My legal and business practice as well as my legislative career has prepared me well to lead the district attorney’s office,” Seabaugh told The Center Square. “Having a knowledge of the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and how the court system works is the most important factor.”
The northwest region is experiencing job creation through major industrial projects, business expansion and renewed private and public interest to revitalize the downtown district.
Public safety is a critical facet of that economic development, Seabaugh said, adding that Caddo Parish can create jobs but the people who would fill those openings will likely move to South Arkansas, East Texas, Bossier City or Desoto Parish.
“People that don’t already live here are afraid to come here,” he said. “They’re not looking at Caddo, and the reason is crime, plain and simple.
“If people are not hearing gunshots anymore, if people feel safer in their communities, if people feel that the government actually has their back and is doing something to protect them, then I think it’ll be a success,” he said. “Because right now, the perception out there is that the DA’s office is the problem, and people don’t feel that their government cares.”
He said repeat offenders are receiving a “slap on the wrist,” only to re-victimize more people.
A review of publicly available crime data shows that the Caddo Correctional Center’s 10 inmates with the most prior bookings have been booked a combined 324 times, or about 32.5 bookings each.
Each one of them had at least one booking that involved new criminal conduct – drugs, domestic battery, weapons or theft – while on a probation or parole, which means they were arrested for an offense after release for a previous crime, according to CCC data.
They have all been cycling through the system for decades, accumulating a total of 946 charges.
“Criminals are not afraid to commit crime in Caddo Parish because they’re not afraid of the criminal justice system,” Seabaugh said. “We need to get their attention, and we need to let them know: if you commit crime in Caddo Parish, you’re going to be prosecuted and held accountable.”
As district attorney, Seabaugh says he intends to ensure justice is administered swiftly and fairly. One focus is to shorten the length of time between when a charge is filed and its resolution. Defendants who are not granted bail or cannot afford bail remain in CCC.
A Caddo Parish Criminal Justice Task Force report released in 2023 highlights these key findings: population growth at the correctional center was driven largely by the pretrial population; the average length of stay for that population nearly doubled over a decade; and the median time from the opening of a court case to its disposition increased 144%, the report said.
The inmate population this month is about 64% higher than the facility’s 1,070-inmate design capacity.
“This must be pushed aggressively to start clearing out the backlog created by the current district attorney,” Seabaugh said.
In an earlier interview, District Attorney James Stewart told The Center Square that cases are entering the justice system faster than the courts can resolve them, and that limited staffing and funding are contributing to the backlog.
“They can bring people into the system faster than we can get them out,” Stewart said.
He explained that law enforcement may arrest several dozen people over a weekend but it’s going to take time to move them through the system.
“It’s like having an emergency room and you have a flow of people coming in,” Stewart said. “Once they put them up in rooms, it takes a while to get them out of the hospital.”
Seabaugh said the problem has worsened under Stewart, who’s served for 10 years and is seeking a third term.
“It does not seem to be getting any better,” Seabaugh said. “The initial focus should be on aggressive prosecution, which includes getting cases prepared for trial thoroughly and quickly. This is going to require hard work and dedication on the part of the DA and all assistant DAs, and it is going to require a complete culture change from what is being done now.”
A Louisiana Supreme Court report that was released this year indicated that Stewart’s office was among the most productive in the state for the number of jury trials it conducted – despite being, according to Stewart, understaffed 19 prosecutors.
“The system has changed a lot in the last 30 years,” Stewart said. “Technology challenges, personnel, and all those costs have gone up. We still operate on a funding model that’s decades old.”
Seabaugh said he will manage the DA’s office and its personnel better.
“People are sitting in CCC for an extra year waiting for a trial,” Seabaugh said. “That’s completely 100% on the DA. I’ve heard him blame the judges. I’ve heard him blame the public defender’s office. I’ve heard him blame everybody under the sun. But the fact of the matter is, the DA’s office controls the docket, and they control how fast things get pushed.”
With renewed focus on expediting the resolution of criminal cases, Seabaugh believes the backlog is fixable.
“Under previous district attorneys, the number of people charged per year was considerably higher, yet the amount of time between initial charges and final disposition was considerably less,” he said. “This points to a gross inefficiency in the current district attorney’s office that cannot be explained away.”
According to statistics provided by Stewart’s office, the year before Stewart assumed office, law enforcement referred 13,086 criminal charges to the district attorney’s office, which filed 10,400 charges, or about 79%. Under Stewart,13,557 charges were referred last year, with 11,835 filed charges, an 87% rate.
Stewart’s office is more likely to file charges referred by law enforcement than the district attorney’s office was the year before he took office. The Center Square was unable to independently verify those statistics.
“I have already talked to several current and former very successful district attorneys and assistant district attorneys from around the state who have agreed to lend their experience and expertise in giving a complete evaluation of the current office including its roles and practices,” Seabaugh said.
During his House tenure, Seabaugh’s committee assignments included: Civil Law and Procedure, Judiciary, and Administration of Criminal Justice. As Senator, he serves as Chairman of Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, and a member of the Senate Insurance and Senate Judiciary A committees.
“We’re not ready to give up on Caddo Parish,” Seabaugh said. “It’s a great community full of great people that deserves better than they’re getting right now, and if we can be a part of fixing it, we need to do that.”
