Abbeville Council opens discussion to get to ‘root’ of increase in crime

Abbeville Councilman Francis Touchet Jr. said, like many, he is concerned with the recent increase in crime in the city.
“There is no particular group, no particular crime that I want to reference,” Touchet said. “I want to have an open discussion.”
Touchet brought that conversation to the rest of the Abbeville City Council Tuesday evening during its regular meeting.
“I want us to just open up the door and have a discussion,” Touchet said. “I am concerned about the increase in violence that is happening within the city of Abbeville and other things that are happening. There is no particular thing that I am referencing. We have to help our police department.
“We have to get down to the root of what the problems are.”
After lengthy discussion, the council came to a collective opinion that a “breakdown in families” is a key element to the increase in crime. Touchet suggested the development of a focus group that would be comprised of leaders from the religious and business communities, as well as teachers from the city’s schools.
Prior to the first gathering of that group, Touchet asked his fellow councilmen if he can work with Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy to collect statistics to possibly confirm the council’s opinion and have numbers to bring to the group.
“Numbers don’t lie,” Touchet said. “Statistics don’t lie when you bring them to people with a vested interest in something. We are going to have something to say why we are assembling (them).
“I want to be able to say we have stats as to what has happened in Abbeville over the last four years.”
Family served as the basis for discussion Tuesday from the start.
“There are three things that we can really focus on in seeing where the problems are coming from,” Touchet said. “I think, one, we need to look at families, the root of everything that we do. We all have families. Something is happening to the American family, not just in the City of Abbeville, but in other places. I think family needs to be something we do some research on and find out what, as a city, we can do to help.”
There are other focuses.
“Education plays a very important role in everything we do in this world,” Touchet said. “That coincides with family. I think employment is also important. We can all identify that we have an increase in violence in the city. It has to have stemmed from somewhere. If we have an issue with families, we maybe need to do something to try to help with that. If it is an educational thing, we need to see what we can do to work with that system. If it is an employment thing, let’s look at that.”
Councilman-at-Large Francis Plaisance agreed.
“We have a rash of crime throughout the country,” Plaisance said. “I have said it in church and I said it during the 20 years that I did child protection, there is a serious breakdown of the family unit in America. It starts in the home. Over 80 percent of the cases that we did with child abuse and neglect were concerned with drugs and alcohol.
“I think we need to emphasize on parents, over and over again, how important it is to have that basic family unit in tact. Parents need to be responsible for their children and what they do.”
Councilman Brady Broussard Jr. said remaining silent will only continue the same path.
“We can’t expect a different outcome,” Broussard said of doing nothing. “We need to take the bull by the horns. We are not alone in this fight. I think the time to remain silent has passed.
“I believe there are solutions that we can all work on together.”
Touchet said that work will center on trying to pinpoint where the problem possible begins.
“What is the root of what is happening?” Touchet asked. “With every crime, there was an infant that was born in a hospital. There was an infant that was raised by a family and then went through an educational system and got a job. There is a point in that line (from when they are born to when they get a job) where it is breaking down.
“I want to put it out there for discussion and get everyone’s thoughts.”